The symbolic clock that tracks humanity’s proximity to self-destruction is edging toward catastrophe at the same time public anxiety over World War III is spiking. Nuclear risks are rising in multiple regions,

The 2025 decision of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move the Doomsday Clock to 89 seconds to midnight was the closest to symbolic catastrophe in its 78-year history. It is not a prediction but a warning: a distillation of global threats from nuclear weapons to climate change and disruptive technologies.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had struck western Ukraine with a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, an ominous warning by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as U.S.-led negotiations to end the war have gained steam.

Since the dawn of the nuclear age, policymakers and strategists have tried to prevent a country from deploying nuclear weapons by mistake. But the potential for accidents remains as high as it was during the Cold War. In 1983, a Soviet early warning system ...

In 2025, IAEA website audiences were drawn in large numbers to our visual science explainers and features on the safe and secure uses of nuclear energy, nuclear science and technology. 1. Understanding Nuclear Energy One of the IAEA’s most popular ...