Hollywood's 'Oppenheimer' moment puts a sobering UChicago tradition into focus: The day the film earned 13 Academy Award nominations was also the day the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' Doomsday Clock was set to reflect that the world is now closer to apocalypse than it has been at any time before

The article discusses the parallel events of the documentary film "Oppenheimer" receiving 13 Academy Award nominations and the setting of the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight. The film follows physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his involvement in the development of the atomic bomb. The Doomsday Clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago, is a symbolic representation of the world's proximity to global catastrophe. The article highlights the rising awareness of nuclear war and other threats, such as climate change and artificial intelligence, and the impact of the film on students' perceptions of these dangers. The Doomsday Clock is a subjective exercise that combines objective data with the opinions of the Science and Security Board members. Despite criticism, the clock continues to serve as a guidepost for the potential horrors of apocalypse. [Extracted from the article]