The Doomsday Clock will remain unchanged at five minutes to midnight, meaning the Earth has not come any closer to the end times than it was last year.
According to LiveScience, the Doomsday Clock is a visual representation of how close the Earth is to a "civilization-threatening technological catastrophe." Every year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists choose to move the clock forward or not change it all.
CLICK HERE to see a definitive timeline of the Doomsday Clock.
Midnight signifies the time when the Earth will face its ultimate threat of a manmade apocalypse. The last time the board moved the clock forward was in Jan. 2012, when it was advanced one minute to 11:55 p.m.
"As always, new technologies hold the promise of doing great good, supplying new sources of clean energy, curing disease, and otherwise enhancing our lives. From experience, however, we also know that new technologies can be used to diminish humanity and destroy societies," the board wrote. "We can manage our technology, or become victims of it. The choice is ours, and the Clock is ticking."
Invented by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a publication started by some of the atomic bomb researchers, the Doomsday Clock was initially set at 11:53 in 1947 by one of the researchers' wives, Martyl Langsdorf, who was a painter.
The board takes technology into account, but also biosecurity, such as disease and natural disasters. The board left the clock unchanged because tensions between the U.S. and Russia indicate neither side will downsize their nuclear arsenal. Also, efforts to control climate change have remained stagnant.
1991 marked the furthest from midnight, at 11:43, just after the end of the Cold War. Ever since, the Doomsday Clock has only climbed. Its highest point was 11:58 in 1953, just after the testing of the hydrogen bomb, and has yet to be reached again.
"The science on climate change is clear, and many people around the world already are suffering from destructive storms, water and food insecurity, and extreme temperatures," the board wrote. "It is no longer possible to prevent all climate change, but you can limit further suffering-if you act now."
