{"id":296592,"date":"2018-02-08T14:26:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T19:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=296592"},"modified":"2018-02-08T14:34:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T19:34:16","slug":"scientists-discuss-nuclear-and-climate-threats-to-humankind-296592","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/scientists-discuss-nuclear-and-climate-threats-to-humankind-296592\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discuss nuclear and climate threats to humankind"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ Sandra Knispel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Doomsday Clock<\/a> and its underpinnings were the topic of WXXI\u2019s radio program Connections with Evan Dawson<\/em> on Wednesday. Thomas Weber<\/a> assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the URochester, and Wes Renfro, chair of the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies at St. John Fisher College, joined host Dawson to discuss nuclear threats, the current US administration\u2019s handling of North Korea, climate change, and the possible effect of food scarcity on global cohesion.<\/p>\n

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists<\/a> recently moved the minute hand to two minutes to midnight. The last time the clock was set so close to possible human extinction was in 1953, during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change will make human conflict a more likely prospect as food security becomes an issue,\u201d Weber told WXXI. \u201cThat\u2019s how climate change factors into this end-of-the-world- extinction conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n