The Bulletin of ​the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 85 seconds before midnight, the theoretical point of annihilation. That is four seconds closer than it was set last year. The Chicago-based nonprofit created the clock in 1947 during ‍the Cold War tensions that followed World War Two ​to warn the public about how close humankind was to destroying the world.

On Tuesday, nearly eight decades later, the clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight — the closest the timepiece has ever been to midnight, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which est...

In recent years, the mounting risk of WW3 and the unchecked rise of AI have all deepened the sense of impending doom.