a watched pot never boils...

The Doomsday Clock is on the go!

5 minutes to midnight.

Scientists have moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight to reflect the growing concerns of global terrorism, the unchecked nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea and -- in a first -- the threat of climate change.
The clock was first set 60 years ago by an elite group of nuclear scientists at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, shortly after the United States dropped its atomic bombs on Japan. It was meant to symbolize the perils facing humanity from nuclear weapons.
But for the first time, the clock is also registering the threat of global warming, which they call a "second nuclear age."

Click on the timely photo above for more information on The Doomsday Clock.
Since 1947, its Doomsday clock's minute hand has been moved 18 times. Some key years:

• 1953: Set at two minutes before midnight -- its closest proximity to doom -- after the United States and the Soviet Union detonated hydrogen bombs.
• 1991: Moved to its furthest point from doom -- 17 minutes to midnight -- when a new global nuclear arms treaty was signed.
• 2002: Set at seven minutes before midnight, a few months after 9/11 and after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

The decision to move the minute hand is made by the Bulletin's Board of Directors in consultation with its board of sponsors, which include Stephen Hawking and 18 Nobel laureates.