Doomsday Clock Reset on January 14: Are We Closer to the End of the World?
Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
by Danny Davids
The doomsayers pop up everywhere--in the mainstream news, behind church pulpits, and on street corners holding signs that proclaim "The End of the World is Near!" This Thursday the scientific community updates its estimate of when we can expect the world to end--and you can watch it live.
On the morning of January 14, the famous "Doomsday Clock" will be updated at the New York Academy of Sciences building in New York City. The clock represents the number of "minutes" left before "midnight", or destruction of the human race by things such as nuclear weapons, climate change, and other contributing factors.
The last time the clock's time was changed was back in January 2007, when it was set to five minutes before midnight. The clock is maintained by the board of directors of "The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", a group of scientists from the University of Chicago. Since its debut in 1947 (showing a time of seven minutes to midnight), the time has been reset 18 times.
To find out if we're any closer to the end of the world, check out www.TurnBackTheClock.org at 10 am EST on Thursday, January 14. You'll not only be able to watch the clock being reset, but will also be able to submit related questions on-line. Mine would be to see if these folks think they'll be out of a job on December 21, 2012...!
On the morning of January 14, the famous "Doomsday Clock" will be updated at the New York Academy of Sciences building in New York City. The clock represents the number of "minutes" left before "midnight", or destruction of the human race by things such as nuclear weapons, climate change, and other contributing factors.
To find out if we're any closer to the end of the world, check out www.TurnBackTheClock.org at 10 am EST on Thursday, January 14. You'll not only be able to watch the clock being reset, but will also be able to submit related questions on-line. Mine would be to see if these folks think they'll be out of a job on December 21, 2012...!
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)And Aren't we so glad that old song is still true "He's got the whole world in His hands...." Whew
The 'Clock' is at six before midnight, which I guess is good news. It has no meaning whatsoever, yet it is fun to behold: kind of like the running total of the American national debt: something to look at and wonder about, but not something we can really do anything about. Nicely done.
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