Doomsday Clock has sinister warning for 2024 as it’s the closest it’s ever been to midnight

With just weeks until we hit 2024, the Doomsday Clock has never been closer to midnight - so, erm… yeah, happy new year and all that.

As you may already know, the Doomsday Clock is designed to show just how close humanity is to global catastrophe caused by manmade technologies.

The clock is currently the closest it's ever been to midnight - aka Doomsday - standing at just 90 seconds from disaster. Prior to January this year, it was at the previous record of 100 seconds to midnight for two years.

The questions dealt with by the Doomsday Clock are simple - is humanity safer or at greater risk this year compared to last year, and is humanity at a greater risk than in the past 75 years? If so, the clock has to move.

Last January, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - who set the clock - made an announcement through President Rachel Bronson, who said: "The time on the Doomsday Clock represents the judgement of leading science and security experts about the threat to human existence, with a focus on man-made threats."

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

In a press release, she added: “We are living in a time of unprecedented danger, and the Doomsday Clock time reflects that reality.

"90 seconds to midnight is the closest the Clock has ever been set to midnight, and it’s a decision our experts do not take lightly. The US government, its NATO allies and Ukraine have a multitude of channels for dialogue; we urge leaders to explore all of them to their fullest ability to turn back the Clock.”

The Doomsday Clock is updated once a year - usually in January, which means we don’t have too long to wait to find out if we’re going to be inching closer to global catastrophe.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

While the clock can, and has in the past, gone backwards - with conflict ongoing in Ukraine as well as the Israel-Gaza war and let's not forget about the threats brought about by climate change - it seems unlikely.

The moving dial is intended to serve as a call to action for world governments.

And, it hopefully goes without saying, but the goal is actually to avoid midnight at all costs.

“When the clock is at midnight, that means there's been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that's wiped out humanity. We never really want to get there and we won't know it when we do," said Bronson.