Overview
- The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the 2026 clock at 85 seconds to midnight, the nearest point in its 79-year history.
- Its science and security board, which includes Nobel laureates, cited intensifying confrontation among the United States, Russia and China for the shift.
- The Bulletin highlighted the looming lapse of the New START treaty next week, warning of an unchecked strategic arms race.
- The statement flags climate backsliding and emerging hazards from artificial intelligence and biotechnology, such as AI-enabled pathogen design and lab-created “mirror organisms.”
- Leaders urged immediate international steps, with proposals ranging from reviving arms-control talks and refraining from nuclear tests to setting bio–AI guardrails and restoring evidence-based climate policy.