Hey, true weirdos. We just wanted to take a minute and thank you so much for your support.

True Weird Stuff has won the best history podcast in the Women in Podcasting Awards,

and we've also won a Signal Award in the paranormal category.

And that's only happened because of you, our fellow strange people.

Thanks.

Stick around if you want after the episode for a little bonus content and conversation.

The doomsday clock is ticking closer to catastrophe, illustrating the rising risks of self-annihilation.

It is now 89 seconds to midnight.

The symbolic clock has been reset and is now closer to midnight than ever before.

Atomic scientists cite nuclear threats and the climate crisis as two main factors underlying the risk of the end of the world.

The rapid progression of AI and record-breaking surface temperatures last year also contributed to scientist's decision.

Ongoing conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, escalations in the war in the Middle East, Sudan and Syria,

have all impacted scientists' calculations.

The symbolic clock has been used by scientists

since the Cold War as a warning to world leaders and the public. Scary stuff. But if it's any

comfort, humans have been predicting the end of the world for about as long as there have been

humans, in part because we're very, very

small, but we think of ourselves as very, very important.

So, of course, that kind of main character energy is bound to leak all over everything.

We do love to put ourselves at the center of every story.

The ancient Assyrians were wringing their hands over the coming apocalypse more than

2,800 years ago. They even etched their worries into a stone tablet that somehow survived

...