STATES CHRONICLE – It seems that we only have a couple of minutes till midnight on “Doomsday Clock”, where midnight represents the extinction of the human species. Scientists have now moved the minute hand to “57”, meaning we only have three minutes to the midnight of our time. The closest the clock was to striking was in 1953 after the hydrogen bomb was tested by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

The tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union seems to be a general reason for the movement of the “Doomsday Clock” mechanism. This made the clock move further that it has ever been in 1953 when the hydrogen bomb seemed like it would be used by both parties, then again in 1984 when talks between the two nations stopped altogether.

Fortunately, the tensions between the two powerful nations aren’t the only reason for which the clock now shows “11:57” instead of “11:55” as it has until last week. There are even more pressing issues that made the scientists believe we are approaching an apocalypse at a fast pace.

The conflicts in Iran, Syria, the growing numbers of terrorist attacks, climate change and an overall unstable political situation worldwide has determined the Atomic Scientists’ Bulletin to take action and reveal to the public that there are only a couple of minutes till midnight on “Doomsday Clock”.

The Bulletin was founded by the Chicago University in 1945 and the first members were the scientists that build the atomic weapons. On that background, the “Doomsday Clock” was created by the same people only two years later.

In the present moment, the members of the Atomic Scientists’ Bulletin are the most prestigious names in the field, more than two dozen having a Nobel Prize to justify their membership. These are the people that decided we are approaching an apocalypse.

It seems that the members of the Bulletin put a lot of focus on climate change. Even with last year’s Climate Change conference in Paris, the greenhouse gasses levels are still rising and the winter that we are experiencing is solid proof that we must raise awareness on the matter in any way possible and start taking action against the changes before they become definitive.

The “Doomsday Clock” has been named an exercise on pessimism by the publisher of the Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer. But the public needs to be aware of the current situation and there are only a couple of minutes till midnight on “Doomsday Clock”.

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