Doomsday clock set at 5 minutes until midnight

The iconic Doomsday Clock is poised at five minutes until midnight, it has been announced.

The Doomsday Clock is a visual metaphor used to depict danger of a "civilization-threatening technological catastrophe", CBS reported.

The Doomsday Clock is the invention of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a publication started by some of the researchers who worked on the atomic bomb.

Every year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists analyzes international threats, particularly nuclear arsenals and climate change, and decides where the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock should rest.

The closer it is to midnight, the closer the world is to doom.

The board said that as always, new technologies hold the promise of doing great good, supplying new sources of clean energy, curing disease, and otherwise enhancing our lives but from experience, they also know that new technologies can be used to diminish humanity and destroy societies

The board added that either we can manage our technology, or become victims of it, the choice being ours or the Clock is ticking.

The decision of setting the minute hand at 11:55 pm was made based on the current state of nuclear arsenals around the globe as well as accidents such as the Fukushima nuclear meltdown that occurred in 2011 after a major earthquake and tsunami in Japan.