The world is just as close to blowing itself up as it was a year ago, according the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The journal's "Doomsday Clock" was set to 11:57pm today, the same time it was set at last January, and the closest it's been to midnight since the Cold War. The Bulletin has been updating its clock, which is meant to symbolize humanity's proximity to the apocalypse, since 1947—two years after the United States dropped a pair of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Bulletin's report said that July's Iran nuclear agreement and December's Paris climate agreement were both huge strides in maintaining global security, but resistance from global powers like the United States and Russia to disarm their nuclear arsenals has the organization concerned. Thus, we remain three minutes to holyf**kgetmeouttahere.
"That decision is not good news," the report read, "but an expression of dismay that world leaders continue to fail to focus their efforts and the world's attention on reducing the extreme danger posed by nuclear weapons and climate change."
But don't go throwing your whole savings account into building a bomb shelter. The Doomsday Clock isn't a Nostradamus-esque crystal ball, but rather a product of statistical analysis of the state of the world's nuclear arsenals, risk of climate change and other factors that could lead to the end of the world.
A quick piece of advice to anyone who's unsettled by the report: live every day like it's the end of the world.
