Doomsday Clock: Highest ever disaster risk

Learning English from the News

2026-01-28

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(Photo by Getty Images) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Download a free worksheet! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The story A famous group of experts have warned that the world is the closest it has ever been to disaster. They’ve set the Doomsday Clock at 85 seconds to midnight. The Doomsday Clock was developed by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to warn about dangerous technologies and risks in the world. Doomsday means the end of the world, or a time when something very bad will happen. The idea is that the closer the Doomsday Clock is to midnight, the closer humanity is to being destroyed. The Doomsday Clock was set up in 1947 as a way to track the risk of nuclear war. Scientists now consider other threats like climate change and artificial intelligence and update the clock every year. Scientists moved the clock forward four seconds on Tuesday, indicating that the risk of disaster is getting worse. News headlines Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight in stark ‘apocalypse’ warning The Independent Is humanity running out of time? World holds its breath as Doomsday Clock is updated World Is One News 'Every second counts' - Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight BBC News Key words and phrases stark clear, often serious hold your breath wait nervously or excitedly for something that’s about to happen every second counts every moment is important Next  Do you ever find speaking scary? Try our new Beating Speaking Anxiety course Try The Listening Room to practise your listening skills with BBC news reports.
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  • From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

  • In this programme, experts say the world is closer than ever to disaster.

  • Hello, I'm Pippa.

  • And I'm Becca.

  • In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

  • You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode

  • as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

  • So, let's hear more about this story.

  • Famous group of experts have warned that the world is the closest it has ever been to disaster.

  • They've set the doomsday clock at 85 seconds to midnight.

  • The doomsday clock was developed by an organisation called the Bulletin

  • of Atomic Scientists to warn about dangerous technologies and risks in the world.

  • Doomsday means the end of the world or a time when something very bad will happen.

  • The idea is that the closer the Doomsday Clock is to midnight, the closer humanity is to being destroyed.

  • The Doomsday Clock was set up in 1947 as a way to track the risk of nuclear war.

  • Scientists now consider other threats like climate change and artificial intelligence and update the clock every year.

  • Scientists move the clock forward four seconds on Tuesday, indicating that the risk of disaster is getting worse.

  • Let's have our first headline from The Independent, a British news website.

  • Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight in Stark Apocalypse Warning.

  • That headline again from The Independent.