Conversations Before Midnight 2021 Virtual Annual Event November 9, 2021 | 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. C.T. Sign up here to receive an invitation! Keep me informed about the Bulletin’s 2021 virtual annual event. Rose Gottemoeller Gottemoeller is the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and its … Continued

Bulletin Media Contact: Janice Sinclaire, [email protected] CHICAGO– July, 21, 2015 – The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that Lawrence Krauss has been elected Chair of the organization’s Board of Sponsors; Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman has been elected Chair Emeritus, marking the first time the Bulletin has bestowed such an honor. Lederman is an experimental … Continued

Conversations Before Midnight Virtual Reality Tour through the Doomsday Clock, 2018-19, In Memory of Martyl, courtesy of Ellen Sandor & (art)n. Annual Event November 9, 2021 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Central Time Join small-group conversations with experts from around the world! This unique virtual experience allows you and your guests to join small, … Continued

With some notable exceptions, terrorists have rarely used bioweapons. Despite this record, the COVID pandemic has reenergized concern over bioterrorism. But when terrorists look at the landscape after COVID, do they see new opportunities to wreak havoc or more of the same?

Biodiversity loss isn’t just a side effect of climate change. It’s also a causal factor driving climate change, and a consequence of other environmental problems that are being neglected.

About the Project Taskforce Conference Taskforce In Sept. 2022, the Bulletin launched a year-long taskforce composed of globally recognized experts to generate new thinking on responsible high-risk pathogen research. The taskforce members and leaders are below. Tap or hover on their image to learn more. Chairs Ravindra Gupta Ravi Gupta is professor of clinical microbiology … Continued

About the Project Task Force April 2023 Conference 2024 Report Launch Read the new Report, A Framework for Tomorrow’s Pathogen Research Task force In Sept. 2022, the Bulletin launched a year-long task force composed of globally recognized experts to generate new thinking on research with pandemic risk. The task force members and leaders are below. … Continued

"There’s no fundamental physics reason that someday we’re not going to have a non-invasive brain-machine interface. It’s just a matter of time. And we have to manage that eventuality.” — neuroscience expert Jack Gallant

Amidst the destruction of the first atomic bomb test, mathematically perfect quasicrystals—a “forbidden” kind of matter whose existence had long been contested—rained down in the debris. Atomic bomb quasicrystals hold promise as an analytical tool for determining who was responsible for a nuclear terrorist attack and also raise important questions about the nature of all matter in the universe.

Concerns regarding a nuclear terrorist attack underscore the enormous amount of unsecured — and sometimes unaccounted for — weapon-grade nuclear materials located throughout the world. Meanwhile, the United States expresses a desire to design new nuclear weapons, with an emphasis on those able to destroy hardened and deeply buried targets. It also rejects a series of arms control treaties … Continued

Even for those who lived through the first atomic bombings, it will always be August 1945.

Overview Current Time FAQ Timeline Dashboard Datavisualizations Virtual Tour This is your COVID wake-up call:It is 100 seconds to midnight This is your COVID wake-up call: It is 100 seconds to midnight 2021 Doomsday Clock Statement Science and Security BoardBulletin of the Atomic Scientists Editor, John Mecklin 2021 Doomsday Clock Statement Science and Security BoardBulletin of … Continued

Overview Current Time FAQ Timeline Dashboard Multimedia Exhibit A new abnormal:It is still 2 minutes to midnight 2019 Doomsday Clock Statement Science and Security BoardBulletin of the Atomic Scientists Editor, John Mecklin From the President   |   Full Statement   |   Board Biographies   |   About the Bulletin   |   Clock Timeline PDF version   |   Print this page Statement from … Continued

THE CLOCK SHIFTS CULTURE & THE CLOCK STATEMENTS The Clock Starts Running The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists changes its format from a newsletter to a magazine. Its first cover features a clock, both conceptualized and designed by artist Martyl Langsdorf. At the time, Langsdorf designed it because “it seemed the right time on the … Continued

Great historical changes begin as the quixotic obsessions of a vanguard of idealists who are seen as dangerous radicals or ideological deviants by many of their contemporaries. Think of the first advocates of the abolition of slavery, the first suffragettes, and the first gay rights activists.

It is no exaggeration to claim that, since it first went online in 2012, Alex Wellerstein’s original NUKEMAP tool has enabled millions of people all over the world to fathom the effects of a nuclear explosion. Now, Wellerstein is working on a new project that combines the information base of NUKEMAP with the immersive first-person experience of virtual reality.

Nuclear weapons are like a wedding “gift” that should never be opened.

In the first round of commentary in response to the Bulletin column that suggested that other weapons, such as non-contagious biological weapons, could be a useful alternative to nuclear weapons as a deterrent, I focused on why biological weapons would not be suitable for this purpose. Doing so would be illegal and lead to proliferation … Continued

This year, AI-generated art made a lot of headlines. But the Bulletin maintains a distinctly human approach to multimedia production. Here are some of our favorite examples.

In early February, the Trump administration unveiled a $1.5-trillion infrastructure plan that has received criticism on several fronts. Chief among the complaints is a lack of planning for civil and infrastructure disruptions resulting from extreme weather and a changing climate. But the Trump administration isn’t unique in this regard: studies indicate that governments around the world underinvest in infrastructure resilience by at least 70 percent. But what do we mean when we say “resilience?” And who benefits from efforts that do exist?