Nuclear scientists set their “doomsday clock” closer to midnight on Tuesday than ever, saying the threats of nuclear war, disease and climate change have increased because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, putting humanity at greater risk of annihilation, according to Reuters.

The Doomsday Clock, created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to illustrate how close humanity has come to the end of the world, has moved its “time” 90 seconds to midnight in 2023, 10 seconds closer than it was three years ago.

Midnight on this clock marks the theoretical point of annihilation. The hands of the clock move closer or further away from midnight depending on the scientists’ approach to existential threats at a given time.

The new hour reflects a world in which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revived the fear of nuclear war.

“Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalating conflict through accident, intent or miscalculation is a terrible risk. The chances of this conflict spiraling out of someone’s control remain high,” Rachel Bronson, the newsletter’s president and CEO, said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

The bulletin ad will be translated from English to Ukrainian and Russian for the first time to get attention, Bronson said.

A nonprofit organization based in Chicago, the bulletin updates the watch annually based on information about catastrophic risks to the planet and humanity.

The organization’s board of directors, made up of scientists and other experts in nuclear technology and climate science, including 13 Nobel laureates, discusses world events each year and decides where to place the hands of the clock.

Apocalyptic threats represented by the watch include politics, weapons, technology, climate change and pandemics.

In 2020, the clock was set 100 seconds to midnight, which was already the closest to midnight.

The council said the war in Ukraine also increased the risk of biological weapons being used if the conflict continued.

“The constant stream of misinformation about biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine raises concerns that Russia itself may be considering hosting such weapons,” Bronson said.

Sivan Karta, a bulletin board member and scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said natural gas prices pushed to new wartime highs also encouraged companies to develop natural gas sources outside of Russia and led to the revival of coal-fired power plants as an alternative energy. source.

“Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning hit an all-time high in 2021 after recovering from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, continue to rise in 2022 and reach a new record high… As emissions continue to rise, extreme weather events continue , and are even more clearly linked to climate change,” Karta said, citing the devastating floods in Pakistan in 2022 as an example.

The watch was created in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists, including Albert Einstein, who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the world’s first nuclear weapon during World War II.

In 1991, at 17 minutes to midnight, the clock was the furthest from doomsday, when the Cold War ended and the United States and the Soviet Union signed a treaty that significantly reduced both countries’ nuclear arsenals.