How do you think humanity is going to go down? Will the sun explode? Will aliens come to take over the world? Zombie apocalypse maybe? This question has been thought about by many people all over the world, curious on how the fate of humanity will end up.

In 1947, an artist named Martyl Langsdorf started a so-called ¨ Doomsday Clock, ¨ that´s meant to represent how close humanity is to self-destruction. Scientists collect statistics and data on factors such as nuclear activity, climate change, disruptive technology (such as AI), wars, pollution, and many other human caused threats that effect the planet and society as we know it.

¨Yeah, people using AI and like constantly advancing technology is definitely a step closer to evil robots in our future.¨ Says Luke Chavez, an AP computer science student.

The clock is now run by the ¨Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,¨ a group that was formed by the Manhattan Project scientists at the University of Chicago who helped build the atomic bomb in WWII but protested against using it against people. The clock itself is meant to give people a sense of urgency to help prevent the end of the world, and to minimize their own attributes to harming the planet.

The Doomsday Clock represents its purpose in an abstract way, warning how many metaphorical ¨minutes to midnight¨ humanity has left before destroying the planet. The Doomsday Clock, as of January 2026, is currently at 85 seconds until midnight. Uprising threats such as nuclear risks, climate change, misuse of technology, and international hostility has brought our world closer to the end. Once the clock hits midnight, it symbolizes that humans are at the point of no return. This means that humans have caused irreversible damage to the planet, failing to avert catastrophic events such as nuclear war, climate collapse, and other events that render our planet to be inhabitable.¨

¨That´s mad eerie… I hope people see stuff like this and lock in for our planet,¨ Reinah Delgado, an environmental biology major, said.