It appears as if 2017 has picked up from where 2016 left off for many, particularly when it comes to the state of the world. In a recent announcement for example, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the Doomsday Clock to two and half minutes to midnight. To put that in perspective, it's the closest to midnight that the clock has since 1953, when it was moved to two minutes to midnight when the first hydrogen bomb was detonated during testing.  

The Clock serves as a symbol for how close the world is to war or destruction as a result of nuclear and atomic weaponry, having first been created in 1947 following the infamous Manhattan Project.

The reason for the move, as cited by the Bulletin, is the recent global warming concerns, as well as the proliferation of nuclear weapons by several countries across the globe. Added to this is the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump.

"Making matters worse, the United States now has a president who has promised to impede progress on both of those fronts," noted physicist Lawrence M. Krauss and Rear Admiral David Titley in the New York Times.  

What measures it will take to push the minute hand further away from midnight, remains to be seen.