From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Doomsday scenarios. What to believe.

Hello again, I'm Mormon Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues.

Americans care about most. As glaciers melt, sea levels rise, and the weather changes,

the bulletin of the atomic scientists has taken notice.

It's added global warming to nuclear war as a threat to humankind

and moved the so-called doomsday clock, two minutes closer to midnight.

On to the point, we'll ask if recent predictions about the

end of our species are any more credible than the ones we've already survived. Can we

count on unforeseen circumstances and human ingenuity? Does popular culture convey the right

message or promote unnecessary anxiety? On reporter's notebook later on, reality TV and diplomacy in Britain. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello, again. Mormon. I'm only back with To the Point. Global warming has

been added to rumors of nuclear war as the doomsday clock is moved two minutes closer to midnight.

On To the Point, are recent predictions of catastrophe equally credible? Are they more likely than the

ones humankind has already survived?

Does popular culture promote understanding or increase unreasonable fears? On reporter's notebook,

a tacky British TV show becomes an international incident. First is news update. Much of Europe

has been hit by Hurricane Force winds that have killed at least 47 people

and disrupted travel for tens of thousands more. There's said to be billions of dollars in damage

from the British Isles to Eastern Europe. Naomi Buck is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. Welcome to

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