(CNN) We are creeping closer to the apocalypse, according to a panel of scientists and scholars.

The Chicago-based Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the "Doomsday Clock," a symbolic countdown to the end of the world, to two and a half minutes to midnight.

It marks the first time since 1953 -- after hydrogen bomb tests in the US and then Soviet Union -- that humanity has been this close to global disaster.

The group cited US President Donald Trump's "disturbing comments" about the use of nuclear weapons and views on climate change among other factors, including cyberthreats and the rise in nationalism, that have contributed to the darkened forecast.

"The board's decision to move the clock less than a full minute reflects a simple reality: As this statement is issued, Donald Trump has been the US president only a matter of days," the organization said in a statement.

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