The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded by in 1945 following the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
One mission was to urge fellow scientists to help shape national and international policy. A second mission was to help the public understand what the bombings meant for humanity.
These scientists anticipated that the atomic bomb would be
“only the first of many dangerous presents from the Pandora's Box of modern science….”
The Bulletin focuses on three main areas: nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. What connects these topics is a driving belief that because humans created them, we can control them.
One of the most familiar and iconic symbols of the Bulletin is its Doomsday Clock. The focus is on 12 midnight. This is the hour when the world, all of us, will be the closest to self-destruction through the use of our own technologies.
Every year, depending on the state of the world, we may move closer to or further from midnight. And in 2026, we're closer to midnight than we've ever been: 85 seconds. The continued nuclear threat and climate change, for example, have moved the minute hand forward.
Why this Topic?
We're covering the Doomsday Clock for two reasons. The first is the Clock, and its implications are affected by the Trump Administration. The second reason is that the Administration's assaults on a free press are antithetical to a democracy, and thus, affect the clock.
Silence a free press; you silence opposition. It's kind of Orwellian.
In many ways, we're moving toward our own Doomsday Clock, but one that may spell the death of our democracy and the birth of an authoritarian government. The oft described existential threat to democracy that we've heard about time and time again, during the last few election cycles, may actually be upon us.
Notes:
(1). About us.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/about-us/
(2) ” 85 Seconds to Midnight,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/timeline/
(3) “Trump Calls the News Media the ‘Enemy of the American People',” by Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times. Feb. 17, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html
(4) “C.I.A. Concludes That Saudi Crown Prince Ordered Khashoggi Killed,” by Julian E. Barnes, The New York Times. Nov. 16, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/politics/cia-saudi-crown-prince-khashoggi.html
(5) “Trump Berates One Reporter and Tells Another,‘ Quiet Piggy',” by Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times. Nov. 18, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/business/media/trump-reporter-khashoggi-saudis.html
(6) You can find a summary of Nightfall on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_(Asimov_novelette_and_novel)