Is it the end of the world as we know it? Not yet, but we are two minutes closer. 
 
 The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reset the hands of the "Doomsday Clock" on Thursday, ticking two minutes closer to the ultimate demise of the human race. 
 
 As of Thursday, the clock was set at three minutes to midnight. Since January 2012, the hands of the clock had been set at five minutes to midnight. The minute hand moved forward, for the first time in three years, due to rising nuclear concerns and increasingly dire climate science findings. 
 
 "The possibility of global catastrophe is really very high," said Kennette Benedict of the Bulletin of Atomic Sciences. "The choice is ours and the clock is ticking." 
 
 The clock is set at the further level since 1984, the height of the Cold War, making the current status the second closest the world has been to midnight in the 68 years of the clock. The only time it was moved closer was when the Soviet Union began work on a hydrogen bomb in 1953. 
 
 The lack of progress in nuclear disarmament and U.S. and Russian in modern nuclear weaponry makes nuclear disaster an ongoing threat, according to Benedict. 
 
 Now nuclear war is not the only concern on the minds of the scientists behind the clock. Climate change threats are playing an increasing role in how the clock is set. 
 
 "Human influence on the climate system is clear," said Richard Somerville of Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, speaking during the briefing, "Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer than any preceding on record." 
 
 The warmest year on record globally was 2014, and 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred since the year 2000. 
 
 A poll taken before the clock was set on Thursday revealed that 73 percent of the public believed the hands should be moved closer to midnight, while 27 percent felt the hands should be adjusted further from the moment of doom. 
 
 The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project. The group subsequently created the Doomsday Clock in 1947, using midnight to symbolize apocalypse and the countdown to zero to convey threats to humanity and the planet. 
 
 "Climate change and increasing concerns about nuclear weapons are the main factors influencing the decision about any additional adjustment that may be made to the Doomsday Clock," said the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in a statement ahead of the announcement. 
 
 The decision to move the minute-hand of the Doomsday Clock is made by the Bulletin's Board of Directors in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 17 Nobel Laureates. The clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world's vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change and emerging technologies in the life sciences. ||||| The Doomsday Clock Is Reset: Closest To Midnight Since The 1950s 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 
 
 The minute hand on the Doomsday Clock ticked closer to midnight Thursday, as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said it's seeing an increase in dangers to humanity, from climate change to nuclear warfare. The group took the "unprecedented" step of moving the clock 30 seconds closer to midnight, to leave it at 2 1/2 minutes away. 
 
 The setting is the closest the symbolic clock has come to midnight since 1953, when scientists moved it to two minutes from midnight after seeing both the U.S. and the Soviet Union test hydrogen bombs. It remained at that mark until 1960. 
 
 "Make no mistake, this has been a difficult year," Rachel Bronson, executive director and publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said as the new setting was announced Thursday. 
 
 Explaining its move, the Bulletin's Science and Security Board said: 
 
 "Over the course of 2016, the global security landscape darkened as the international community failed to come effectively to grips with humanity's most pressing existential threats, nuclear weapons and climate change ... This already-threatening world situation was the backdrop for a rise in strident nationalism worldwide in 2016, including in a U.S. presidential campaign during which the eventual victor, Donald Trump, made disturbing comments about the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons and expressed disbelief in the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change." 
 
 The board criticized President Trump further, saying that "even though he has just now taken office, the president's intemperate statements, lack of openness to expert advice, and questionable cabinet nominations have already made a bad international security situation worse." 
 
 Last year, the Doomsday Clock's setting didn't change from 2015, when it jumped two notches to three minutes before midnight — the closest it had been to midnight since the early era of above-ground hydrogen bomb testing. 
 
 Created in 1947, the Doomsday Clock was conceived by scientists who had participated in the Manhattan Project. Initially seen as an indicator of the likelihood of disastrous nuclear conflict, it now also includes other threats, such as climate change, biological weapons and cyberthreats. 
 
 It's the first time in the Doomsday Clock's 70-year history that the advisory board has adjusted the clock by 30 seconds. 
 
 The decision to advance the clock was announced at the National Press Club, where speakers included board members former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Thomas R. Pickering and physicist Lawrence Krauss. A simultaneous event was held at Stanford University that featured California Gov. Jerry Brown, former Secretary of State George Schultz and former Defense Secretary William Perry. 
 
 "Facts are stubborn things," Krauss said, "and they must be taken into account if the future of humanity is to be preserved." 
 
 The Doomsday Clock, physicist Lawrence Krauss said at Thursday's event, offers "a rare opportunity to reach the global public directly." Urging members of the public to speak to their political leaders, he added that important decisions about humanity's future shouldn't be left to a few men. 
 
 "President Trump and President Putin, who claim great respect for each other, can choose to act together as statesmen, or act as petulant children, risking our future," Krauss said. 
 
 His direct comments sparked the first question after board members had made their initial statements, as Tracy Wilkinson of The Los Angeles Times asked Krauss, "You said this shouldn't be left in the hands of one or two leaders making crazy statements. I know you mean Trump, but is the second person Putin?" 
 
 As Krauss answered yes, another panel member, Thomas Pickering, added, "Good guess."
– The Doomsday Clock may not have moved last year, but today it made up for it: The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced that the clock jumped ahead two minutes and now stands at three minutes before midnight, reports Mashable. "Midnight," of course, being the end of civilization. The organization cited concerns about the world's nuclear arsenals, but it also placed a big share of the blame for the time change on global warming and what it sees as political inaction to get it under control, reports the Guardian. "Human influence on the climate system is clear," said Richard Somerville of the Bulletin. "Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer than any preceding on record." This is the closest we've come to the group's Doomsday since the US and the Soviet Union were in the grips of the Cold War in 1984. The only time the clock has been closer to midnight is after the USSR's work on a hydrogen bomb in 1953 set it to 11:58.