This symbolic clock, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago, United States and devised by some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, marks each year the symbolic time remaining until the destruction of humanity: in 2025, we are closer than ever.

Washington.- Atomic scientists on Tuesday moved their "Doomsday Clock" closer than ever to midnight, citing Russian nuclear threats amid its invasion of Ukraine, tensions in other global hot spots, military applications of artificial intelligence and climate change as factors underlying the risks of global catastrophe.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock at 89 seconds before midnight, the theoretical point of total and catastrophic destruction of humanity. That's one second closer than what was set last year. The Chicago-based nonprofit created the clock in 1947 during Cold War tensions following World War II to warn the public about how close humanity was to destroying the world.

"The factors that influenced this year's decision (nuclear risk, climate change, the potential misuse of advances in biological science and a variety of other emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence) were not new in 2024. But we have not seen sufficient progress in addressing key challenges and, in many cases, this is generating increasingly negative and worrying impacts," said Daniel Holz, Chair of the Bulletin's Science and Security Committee.

"Setting the Doomsday Clock at 89 seconds to midnight is a warning to all world leaders," Holz added.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II. "The war in Ukraine remains a major source of nuclear risk. Such a conflict could escalate to include nuclear weapons at any time due to a hasty decision or by accident or miscalculation," Holz said.

In November, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, a move the Kremlin described as a signal to the West amid a war in which Ukraine has received weapons supplied by the United States and its allies. Russia's updated doctrine set out a framework for the conditions under which Putin could order a strike with the world's largest nuclear arsenal.

Russia said in October it would not discuss signing a new treaty with the United States to replace the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that limits each side's strategic nuclear weapons and expires in 2026 because Moscow believes it needs to be expanded to cover other countries.

"Russian aggression in Ukraine, including the repeated use of nuclear threats since the war began, has been worrying. Moreover, Russia's recent backtracking on key arms control treaties is an alarming sign of growing nuclear risk," Holz said.

The Middle East has been another source of instability with the war between Israel and Gaza and broader regional hostilities involving countries such as Iran. Nuclear-armed China has stepped up military pressure near Taiwan, sending warships and aircraft into the waters and airspace around the island that Beijing considers its own territory. Nuclear-armed North Korea continues to test several ballistic missiles.

"We are closely watching and hope that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold. Tensions in the Middle East, including with Iran, remain dangerously volatile," Holz said. "There are other potential flashpoints around the world, including Taiwan and North Korea. Any of these could escalate into a conflagration involving nuclear powers, with unpredictable and potentially devastating results."

Artificial intelligence has rapidly gained capability and popularity in 2024, raising growing concerns among some experts about its military applications and risks to global security. Governments have addressed the issue intermittently. In the United States, for example, then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October aimed at reducing the risks posed by artificial intelligence to national security, the economy, and public health or safety. His successor, Donald Trump, revoked it last week.

"Advances in artificial intelligence are beginning to appear on the battlefield in a timid but worrying way, and the future possibility of AI being applied to nuclear weapons is especially worrying. In addition, artificial intelligence is increasingly disrupting the global information ecosystem. AI-driven disinformation and misinformation will only exacerbate this dysfunction," Holz said.

Last year was the hottest on record, according to scientists at the UN's World Meteorological Organization. The past 10 years were the 10 hottest on record, it said.

"While there has been impressive growth in wind and solar power, the world is still far from achieving what is needed to prevent the worst aspects of climate change," Holz said.

The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by scientists including Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967).