Five Minutes to Midnight!

Following an international symposium held January 9, in Washington, D.C., the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (yes that's a real thing) moved the Doomsday clock to five minutes to Midnight. After reviewing the implications of recent events and trends for the future of humanity with input from other experts on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, climate change, and biosecurity (also a real thing), they decided that we're all one step closer to being fucked! Mainly because of the cracked nuclear reactors in Japan spewing nuclear waste into the air and ocean for the last several months, but also because theirs a bunch of unaccounted for suitcase sized nukes running around out there somewhere ready to be set off without warning. Created in 1947  by scientists who had helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Doomsday Clock uses the imagery of the apocalyptic midnight and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion, to convey the threats to humanity and the planet. Since then the Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world's proximity to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, and emerging technologies. You can find out more about it here.