The Bulletin of ​the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 85 seconds before midnight, the theoretical point of annihilation. That is four seconds closer than it was set last year. The Chicago-based nonprofit created the clock in 1947 during ‍the Cold War tensions that followed World War Two ​to warn the public about how close humankind was to destroying the world.

The “Doomsday Clock,” which metaphorically rates how close humankind is to destroying itself, is now at 85 seconds to midnight, atomic scientists say.

Humanity continues to court species-threatening disaster through nuclear brinkmanship, a failure to address climate change, and a hasty rollout of artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Bullet...