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One minute safer than yesterday

The venerable Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has deemed the world a bit safer than it was in 2007. The hands of its ‘doomsday clock’ have been inched away from midnight — representing the end of civilization, due to threats such as nuclear war — by a minute. The new time: six minutes to midnight. clock.JPG

The group credits recent efforts by world leaders to shrink the world’s nuclear arsenals, as well as move to restrict greenhouse gas emissions. But the tiny nudge, of only one minute, symbolizes the fact that the world remains in a precarious situation, says Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University (ABC News).

“For the first time in decades,” Bulletin editors write, “we have an opportunity to free ourselves from the terror of nuclear weapons and to slow drastic changes to our shared global environment. We encourage scientists to continue their engagement with these issues and make their analysis widely known.”

The Bulletin last changed the clock in January 2007, after North Korea conducted its nuclear test. The closest it has ever been to the end of the world is two minutes to midnight, in 1953 after the United States and the Soviet Union both exploded hydrogen bombs.

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