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Opinion

Rescue and clean-up crews search for casualties following the barracks bombing in Beirut on October 23, 1983. If negotiators hope to revive the Iran nuclear deal, they must address the billions of dollars’ worth of civil judgments by US victims of terrorism against Iran. Photo credit: United States Marine Corps. Public domain image.

US courts say Iran owes terrorism victims billions. That’s an obstacle to a new Iran nuclear deal.

By Christopher A. Bidwell | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Illustration of a conceptual spacecraft enabled by nuclear thermal propulsion. Credit: NASA

Is using nuclear materials for space travel dangerous, genius, or a little of both?

By Susan D’Agostino | Analysis, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Risk, Opinion

Physicist Steven Weinberg, January 28, 2008. Credit: Larry Murphy, The University of Texas at Austin. Used with permission.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate in physics and Bulletin board member, dies at 88

By Susan D’Agostino | Doomsday Clock, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion, Special Topics

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN. This field of ceramic nose-cones represents, in miniature, all the warheads in the US nuclear arsenal at the height of the Cold War, along with the nuclear submarines, bombers, and ballistic missiles designed to deliver them. Estimates put the warhead count at around 25,000. Denver sculptress Barbara Donachy created this installation to show what such a concentration of nuclear weaponry would look like all in one place. Her display contains 33,561 pieces representing 31,000 warheads, 1,799 ballistic missiles, 324 intercontinental bombers, and 37 nuclear submarines. Amber Waves of Grain installation by Barbara Donachy, Boston Science Museum, Boston, Massachusetts. February 13, 1985. Photograph copyright by Robert Del Tredici, The Atomic Photographers Guild. Used with permission.

Will Canada remain a credible nonproliferation partner?

By Susan O’Donnell, Gordon Edwards | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Smolny College Commencement, 2019. Smolny College—the first liberal arts program in Russia—was founded as a dual-degree program between Bard College in the United States and St. Petersburg University in Russia. Last month, the Russian State Prosecutor’s Office labeled Bard College “undesirable,” which criminalized Bard’s decades-long partnership with St. Petersburg University. Photo credit: Bard College. Used with permission.

Why scientists should respond to Russia’s criminalizing of a US educational exchange

By Susan D’Agostino | Interviews, Nuclear Risk, Opinion

Houston, are we going to have a problem with space nuclear power?

By Beau Rideout | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Risk, Opinion, Voices of Tomorrow

Iranian President Rouhani in April visiting the exhibition of nuclear achievements. Credit: Official website of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. https://president.ir/en/120598.

Iran’s uranium gambit is a dangerous negotiating tactic

By Naysan Rafati | Analysis, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

oil company sign satire

Big Oil’s lies about climate change—a climate scientist’s take

By Adam Sobel | Climate Change, Opinion

drought map of American West July 1 2021

Dying from the heat

By Peter Gleick | Climate Change, Opinion, Personal Essay

view from ocean of condo collapse in Florida

In climate change era, was Surfside collapse really an unpredictable “Black Swan” event?

By John Morales | Climate Change, Opinion

J. Robert Oppenheimer. Credit: James Vaughn. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Accessed via Flickr.

Four senators ask Biden to clear Oppenheimer’s name

By Susan D’Agostino | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Maj. Gen. William F. Burns at the United States Army War College. Photo provided by the family and used with permission.

William Burns, behind-the-scenes advisor in US-Soviet nuclear talks, dies at 88

By Lawrence J. Korb, Arnold S. Kohen | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion