Doomsday clock moves 30 seconds closer to midnight

Q.  What is the Doomsday clock?
- Published on 31 Jan 17

a. A clock indicating when humanity will end.
b. A clock for how close humanity is to destroying the planet
c. A clock measuring climate change only
d. None of the above

ANSWER: A clock for how close humanity is to destroying the planet
 
Doomsday clock moves 30 seconds closer to midnightUS President Donald Trump's stand on nuclear weapons and climate change has made the world less safer, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

The Doomsday Clock has consequently moved closer to midnight by 30 seconds. The clock is a metaphor for how close humanity has come to destroying the planet.

It was last changed in 2015 from 5 to 3 minutes before midnight.

It is now set at two and a half minutes to midnight following rise in strident nationalism across the world.

The factors that have influenced this, according to scientists comprising 15 Nobel laureates include strident nationalism, Trump's stand on nuclear arms and climate issues and a growing global insecurity.

On the nuclear issue, Trump also added that the US must build up its nuclear arsenal.

The last time the Doomsday clock was this closer was 63 years back in 1953 after the USSR exploded its first hydrogen bomb, creating the modern arms race.

The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947.

It has changed 19 times since then, ranging from two minutes to midnight in 1953 to 17 minutes before midnight in 1991.

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