The best of the Bulletin’s bimonthly magazine, 2024

Melting glaciers, demagogues, climate crises, fusion bombs, breadfruit trees, the Greta Thunberg of AI.

Each of these subjects was at the center of articles published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ bimonthly magazine in 2024, and each of those articles was among the our best magazine articles of the year. Of course, with so many articles to choose from, some readers may disagree with the “best of” choices we made and think other Bulletin magazine stories are more deserving of the “best” label. If you have a favorite story that you think should be put on our list, send your nominee for best Bulletin magazine story of 2024 to [email protected], and put the words “Best Magazine” in the subject line—along with any comments you wish to make about why you think it’s deserving.

Why a mindset of stubborn optimism about the climate crisis is needed, now more than ever

By Christiana Figueres

When it comes to climate change, there has been dramatic progress towards a number of positive tipping points—such as technological improvements in wind and solar power, huge increases in the adoption of electric vehicles and heat pumps, better battery storage—that could combine into a self-reinforcing cascade of positive change in the private marketplace. Consequently, there is reason for stubborn optimism—a most useful tool in a most challenging climate.

The Alps’ iconic glaciers are melting, but there’s still time to save (most of) the biggest

By Matthias Huss

In Switzerland, there’s a new reality: The ice is gone, so measurements on some glaciers have stopped. It’s a hard-to-describe feeling for a glaciologist to witness this final point, document it, and definitively close the folder after decades of observations. On one hand, there is a feeling of fascination in being a direct witness to fundamental changes occurring in real time. On the other, it’s like losing an old friend.

How demagogues destroy democracy: a step-by-step global guide

By John Keane

Today’s demagogues are the harbingers of a new, 21st-century form of despotism: a corrupted, “phantom democracy” in which periodic elections are held but the rich become super-rich and omnipotent—while most of the populace is gripped by feelings of powerlessness.

The entanglement of fusion energy research and bombs

By Arjun Makhijani

Not many people seem aware of the connection between fusion research and nuclear weapons. But the two have a long history.

What if potatoes grew on trees? An interview with the Breadfruit Institute’s Diane Ragone

By Dan Drollette Jr.

Once a storied icon of the Pacific, this indigenous foodstuff seemed destined for oblivion, a victim of fast-food chains and cheap canned goods. But the more-or-less forgotten, low-cost, sustainable, environmentally friendly, locally grown breadfruit may be seeing a revival. The Bulletin talks to the founder of the Breadfruit Institute in Hawai’i to find out the story behind this fruit’s rise, fall, and re-birth.

We cannot afford another lost year for food and climate action

By Emile Frisson

Last December, organizers of the annual UN climate negotiations finally got around to dealing with agriculture as a source of carbon, using the occasion to unveil a non-binding so-called “roadmap” for bringing the world’s food production into line with global climate goals. But has the UN gone far enough?

Interview with Sneha Revanur, “the Greta Thunberg of AI”

By Dan Drollette Jr.

Whatever kind of AI is out there today is what teenagers and young college students are going to inherit tomorrow. Which is why 900 of them came together in “Encode Justice.”