Doomsday clock moves 30 seconds closer to midnight marking the closest we’ve come to Earth’s annihilation since 1953
THE doomsday clock has struck two-and-a-half minutes to midnight.
Scientists use the clock face to symbolise the danger humans posed to our own survival.
It was designed in 1947 during the rush to create a devastating nuclear weapon.
Experts working on the Manhattan Project, America's atomic bomb, wanted a way to demonstrate how close we were to widespread global doom.
The clock was changed from 11:55pm to 11:57pm in 2015.
Related articles
This new time is the closest to midnight since 1953, when the US government added the hugely powerful Hydrogen bomb to its arsenal.
In a statement last month the scientists said: "Tensions between the United States and Russia that remain at levels reminiscent of the Cold War, the danger posed by climate change, and nuclear proliferation concerns - including the recent North Korean nuclear test - are the main factors influencing the decision about any adjustment that may be made to the Doomsday Clock."
They added that threat from artificial intelligence and climate change also played a factor.
Last week they added: "Terrorism involving nuclear or radiological materials remains one of the gravest threats to humanity and to global stability".
The new position was streamed live on its website at 3pm on Thursday.
A statement ahead of last year's event said: "We, the members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, want to be clear about our decision not to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock in 2016.
"That decision is not good news, but an expression of dismay that world leaders fail to focus their efforts and the world's attention on reducing the extreme danger posed by nuclear weapons and climate change.
"When we call these dangers existential, that is exactly what we mean: They threaten the very existence of civilisation and therefore should be the first order of business for leaders who care about their constituents and their countries."
The clock's earliest position was set at 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368