The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947, during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. It is, in essence, a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to the destruction of the world, with midnight symbolizing the moment when humanity will have rendered the Earth uninhabitable. Last year, the hands were moved to 89 seconds to midnight, from the 90 seconds set in 2023 and 2024, due to insufficient progress in addressing or regulating global challenges like nuclear risk, the climate crisis, biological threats, disruptive technologies, and disinformation. “Every second of delay in reversing course,” SABS members reported, “increases the likelihood of a global disaster.”