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From Robin:

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-talk-doomsday-clockjan14,0,3410378.story

chicagotribune.com

Doomsday Clock's hands move today

Are we closer to annihilation or moving away from it?

Angie Leventis Lourgos

10:55 AM CST, January 14, 2010

Update: Scientists this morning moved the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock back one minute to six minutes until midnight, citing a "hopeful state of world affairs" and reflecting a lesser threat of global annihilation.

Are we creeping closer to catastrophe or is a self-induced apocalypse less imminent?

The world will find out at 9 a.m. Thursday when the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists plans to move the fateful minute hand of its Doomsday Clock, which conveys the direness of nuclear, climatological and technological threats.

The symbolic time change will occur in New York but can be viewed online for the first time. Also at the group's Web site, the public can submit questions about nuclear proliferation and other global threats to a panel of experts.

The Bulletin, founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, created the clock in 1947. Midnight represents global annihilation, with the minute hand moving away from or closer to "doomsday" based on the state of international affairs.

It's currently set at five minutes to midnight.

The last time change was in 2007, when the scientists moved the hand two minutes closer to destruction, reflecting greater alarm over global warming, genetic engineering and other possible threats to humanity. Before that, the time was based solely on nuclear risks.

While the imagery might be simple, the scientists take the decision to shift the minute hand very seriously and often call upon the aid of outside experts; the time has been changed on only 18 occasions, said Kennette Benedict, the Bulletin's executive director.

She offered no clues whether this shift will reflect good news or bad, only saying these types of risks are critical to monitor.

"Even though nuclear threats seem very removed from our daily lives, the consequences are so destructive," she said.

Ticktock.

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