"'The clock ticks now at just three minutes to midnight because worldwide leaders are failing to perform their most important duty-ensuring and preserving the health and vitality of human civilization.'" Those responsible for moving the internationally recognized hands of the Doomsday clock are the Bulletin's Science and Security Board after it consults with its "Boards of Sponsors, which includes 16 Nobel Laureates".

Hawking told the BBC in a recent interview that climate change, nuclear warfare and artificial life are probably the greatest dangers to mankind, but since "We are not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, ... we have to recognize the dangers and control them", he said.

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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which oversees the clock - a metaphor of how close humanity is to destroying the planet - left the hands in place from a year ago, which is the closest it has been to midnight since the Cold War days of 1984.

The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project - the development of the first nuclear bomb.

The scientists also encouraged people to demand their governments reenergize the nuclear disarmament process, engage with reclusive North Korea to reduce its nuclear risk, follow up on the Paris accord to end climate change, deal with commercial nuclear waste programs and create institutions to explore catastrophic use of new technologies.

How close, far have we been to midnight?

The closest point it had been as of Tuesday morning was two minutes, in 1953, when the US and Soviets had tested hydrogen bombs.

The scientists behind the bulletin adjusted the clock from five minutes-to-midnight to three minutes-to-midnight previous year, the closest to midnight it has been since 1983. This was marked by the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in parallel with the U.S. withdrawing from the Olympic Games held in Moscow.

Perry raised concerns about rhetoric from Russian Federation about the use of nuclear weapons and said the threat of nuclear disaster was greater today than during the Cold War. We are only 3 minutes until midnight, and it seems like the clock doesn't necessarily want to stop its progression in 2016.

TO PARTICIPATE IN PERSON AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB: You can attend the Doomsday Clock news event on January 26, 2016, 1:30 p.m. EST/1830 GMT at theNational Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in the Zenger Room. So while climate change remains by and large unchecked, there is an argument to be made that the type of political leadership needed to avert catastrophe-which many scientists consider to be limiting warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius-has started to show through.