The Doomsday Clock 2026 Prediction Says the End Is Near

While it may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, there is a device known as the Doomsday Clock that experts from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists use to create a visual representation of humanity's slow march towards self-destruction using tools of our own making.

Each year, experts issue an update of the time on the clock, giving us an idea of how close we are to the point of no return. The clock's concept has existed since 1947, and in 2026, it received a new update.

Experts are now warning about what the Doomsday Clock's 2026 prediction means for humankind, and what people need to know about the updated timestamp, as well as what can (or can't) still be done to mitigate the risks facing Earth and the creatures and humans who live here. The Bulletin's president even held a press conference to explain the changes, asking for international cooperation and for bigger governments to step up. Here's what she asked for, and what people are doing in response.

While the Doomsday Clock is a representation of an analogue watch face, it's more of a metaphor for the quality of life on the planet. Created by Martyl Langsdorf, who was the wife of one of the Manhattan Project's physicists, the image was meant to serve as a visual to teach the world about the dangers that nuclear threats posed to the world.

Over the years, the clock hands have been moved to represent increasing threats to the world, beginning in 1949 after the Soviet Union used a nuke.

In the years since then, the clock has been updated to reach closer to midnight to show increased threats, like in 1953 when the U.S. detonated its first thermonuclear device, according to the Bulletin's website. This event prompted the clock to sit at two minutes to midnight.

Past de-escalations have also caused the hands to move, like in 1960 when it was dropped to seven minutes to midnight, and again in 1963 when the Partial Test Ban Treaty was signed.

A series of escalations has moved the hands of the clock closer over the years, including in rapid succession in 2023, 2025, and again in 2026, where it stands at 89 seconds to midnight.

According to a statement from the Bulletin, the 2026 increase is in direct response to increase tensions between the U.S., Russia, and China, and the collapse of global understandings that have kept the thread of war at bay. The Bulletin called it a "failure of leadership" as it made the drastic time jump.

As time marches on and the clock hands grow closer to midnight, experts warn that the world has grown indifferent to the complexities of geopolitical relationships, and has instead put a focus on nationalism instead. At 85 seconds to midnight, the clock (and the world) stands the closest its ever been to the ultimate destruction, which those who run the Bulletin say will make the planet uninhabitable due to things like nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats, and disruptive technology.

While all of this is understandably upsetting, experts do say that there is still time to do something — whether that means working to repair damaged political relationships or working to regulate AI — humanity still has time to turn things around... if the powers that be choose to do the right thing.