On Thursday, January 14 at 10 a.m., scientists at the New York Academy of Sciences will announce a change in the status of the Doomsday Clock , a measure of the outstanding threats to mankind from nuclear weapons, the state of the environment and developments in technology at any given time. The threat is defined by how many minutes to midnight (i.e., the end) we have left.

Internet viewers will be able to watch live at http://www.turnbacktheclock.org/, where the announcement will be made, and questions answered by the scientists.

This is the first change in the doomsday clock since January of 2007, when the clock was moved closer to the end by two minutes, or five minutes to midnight. While the clock started out in 1947 set at seven minutes till midnight, various changes in political, diplomatic and scientific circles around the world have altered the status 18 times over the intervening years, from a low of two in 1953 when both the U.S. and Soviets were actively testing and developing nukes, to a high of 17 in 1991, when those same countries signed the SALT treaty to cut nuclear arms.

No information has been shared about the direction the clock will move on Thursday, or the reasons for the change at this time.