The second hand of the Doomsday Clock moved two minutes closer on Thursday to just three minutes before "midnight" - or when global catastrophe happens. It is the first movement of the theoretical clock in three years, and the 18th time it has been adjusted since it was created in 1947. 

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The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which is based in Chicago and maintains the clock, adjusted it by two minutes because of the growing threat from climate change and nuclear arsenals, reports Reuters. 

They also cited increased global tension, slowdown in the disarmament process, upgrading of nuclear arsenals and no progress in cutting emissions. 

The movement of the second hand was explained in a news conference by the Bulletin. Kennette Benedict, executive director of Bulletin, said, "Today, unchecked climate change and a nuclear arms race resulting from modernization of huge arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity." 

The three minutes to midnight setting is the closest the world has approached "apocalypse" since 1984. 

It also is on the heels of the announcement by U.S. scientists that 2013 is the hottest year on record for the Earth, the result of burnt fossil fuel due to human activities, which releases damaging greenhouse gases into the environment. 

However, some skeptics just ignored the dire warning, pointing out that it has been inching closer to midnight the past 68 years, yet nothing that catastrophic has over the past six decades, so there is no reason to believe the clock, reports Phys.org.

Benedict blamed the very slow action by global leaders on those vital issues for endangering every person on Earth. While it is not too late to initiate action, he said the window to do that is shutting very fast. He urged the world to wake up from its lethargy and begin making changes.

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