The end of the world is fast approaching. On Tuesday, January 24, the doomsday clock was updated and humanity has only 90 seconds left before its extinction. It’s a record. This preventive tool developed in the 1940s is based on the climatic, military and health context.

It is developed by scientists from the Council for Science and Security of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Among them are ten Nobel laureates. Its purpose is to measure the time that humanity has left to live. It is a way of raising awareness of the risks present in the world, “to raise awareness of the imminence of danger”, explains Laurent Testot, scientific journalist, to our colleagues from 20minutes. As planetary events unfold, the needle advances and recedes according to humanity’s proximity to its end. The lowest record is 11:43 p.m. and was reached in 1991, when the USSR was disappearing.

Today, it is now 11:58 p.m. and 30 seconds, knowing that midnight represents the apocalypse. The ecological emergency and the war in Ukraine played a big part in this new update.

“We are stuck in a perilous moment, which brings neither stability nor security. The doomsday clock continues to hover above our heads, reminding us of the work needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet” , said Sharon Squassoni, one of the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, last year.