The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded by in 1945following the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
One mission was to urge fellow scientists to help shapenational 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 Bulletinis 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 movecloser 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 firstis 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 ofOrwellian.
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 AtomicScientists https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/timeline/
(3) “Trump Calls the News Media the ‘Enemy of the AmericanPeople’,” 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 OrderedKhashoggi 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,‘ QuietPiggy’,” 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 onWikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_(Asimov_novelette_and_novel)