(NEXSTAR) – The Doomsday Clock, a concept designed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to represent humanity’s proximity to a global catastrophe, moved slightly closer to “midnight” on Tuesday.

The clock’s hands now indicate that the earth is just 89 seconds from midnight — the closest it’s ever been to “doomsday.”

The clock was last reset in January 2023, when moved to 90 seconds from midnight.

“In setting the hands closer to midnight, we send a stark signal,” Daniel Holz, a professor at the University of Chicago and the chair of the Bulletin’s science and security board, said at Tuesday’s announcement. The Bulletin, he said, believes there has been little progress toward reversing “nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advancements in disruptive technologies.”

Holz also said these threats were being exacerbated by misinformation and conspiracy theories, which together he labeled a “potent threat multiplier” that “increasingly blurs the line between truth and falsehood.”

“The battered information landscape is also producing leaders who discount science and endeavor to suppress free speech and human rights, compromising the fact-based public discussions that are required to combat the enormous threats facing the world,” reads a statement shared to the Bulletin’s website.

“Blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness.”

The Bulletin, a group which is made up of scientists and security experts (and nine Nobel Laureates, according to its website), further urged the leaders of the U.S., Russia and China to “commence good-faith discussions about the global threats” discussed on Tuesday.

“Despite their profound disagreements, they should take that first step without delay. The world depends on immediate action.”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, along with scientists from the University of Chicago, the organization’s website explains. In creating their Doomsday Clock a few years later, the group had sought to create a symbol to “convey threats to humanity and the planet.”

The Bulletin has reset the clock 26 times since 1947, when it was set at 7 minutes to midnight.