Doomsday Clock is now 30 seconds closer to midnight

Climate change, nuclear threats, and other emerging dangers such as fake news and cyber terrorism factor into where scientists set the clock.

Based on the board's conclusions, the minute hand has swayed closer and farther from midnight 22 times during the clock's history. Our "safest" time was 1991, when we had a whole 17 minutes until destruction. It was a year that saw the official end of the Cold War and a reduction in nuclear arsenals.