Doomsday Clock 5 minutes to midnight
The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic representation of how close mankind is to nuclear war, will be moved forward from 7 minutes before midnight to 5 on Wednesday. The Clock was created in 1947 and is maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at University of Chicago. The Bulletin itself was founded by the former Manhattan Project physicists in 1945, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (bomb Little Boy from flying-fortress Enola Gay and Fat Man from the bomber Bockscar respectively). Started at 7 minutes to midnight during the Cold War, it was set to 3 after Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb in 1949, and then to 2 when they were testing thermonuclear weapons in 1953. That was the closest the clock has come to nuclear night, going up and down over the decades in accord with the shifting political climate. The reasons cited by the Bulletin for the new change are the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, the unaccounted for materials from the Eastern bloc, growing terrorism, increased demand for nuclear power, and the launch-ready status of over 2,000 weapons maintained by U.S. and Russia. But according to Dr. Strangelove, it’s best one learn to stop worrying and love the bomb, people who worry too much live shorter, not to mention stress increases the likelihood of cell mutation, and that’s mutation here and now, not in some potential radioactive desertpunk wasteland. Relax, nobody is going to drop the bomb, no one has since Nagasaki, and if they are, you probably can’t stop it anyway. Party like it’s 5 minutes to midnight.
Scientists prepare to move Doomsday Clock forwards, SciAm.com
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists