Apocalypse Clock
The official clock has read 85 seconds to midnight since January 2026. Here, you hold the hands: trigger crises, activate levers, and understand what brings humanity closer to midnight — or further from it.
85 seconds to midnight
Official clock: 85 s (Jan. 2026)
Crises Each crisis pushes the hand toward midnight.
Levers Each lever pulls it back. Prevention counts more than repair.
What is the Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock (also called the apocalypse clock or end-of-the-world clock) is a symbolic dial created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a journal founded by Manhattan Project physicists. Midnight stands for irreversible planetary catastrophe; the distance from it reflects an expert board's judgement of global threats: nuclear weapons, climate change, disruptive technologies and biosecurity.
Why 85 seconds to midnight?
Since 27 January 2026 the official clock has read 85 seconds to midnight, the closest to midnight in its history. It stood at 89 seconds in 2025, 90 seconds in 2023 and 2024, and 100 seconds from 2020 to 2022. In 1991, at the end of the Cold War, it had moved back to 17 minutes. The recent moves reflect the war in Ukraine and its nuclear threats, the collapse of arms-control treaties, successive climate records and the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence in sensitive areas, including the military.
Is it a prediction?
No. The clock measures nothing and does not count down: it is a metaphor, updated once a year, meant to draw attention to risks that can still be reduced. Nothing happens 'when it hits midnight'; midnight would mean the catastrophe has already occurred. The clock has in fact moved backwards eight times since 1947, each time after political decisions: the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), the SALT agreements (1972), the INF Treaty (1988), the end of the USSR (1991).
What is this simulator for?
To make visible what the official clock compresses into one number. By activating crises and levers you see which events weigh most, why, and what answers exist, from international treaties down to steps a single person can take. The seconds attached to each card are explained on the Method page. This site is independent and has no connection with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.