I have enjoyed the exchange between Randy Olson and Robert Socolow on the need for effective communication of science, and not simply as a means of conferring content but as a two-way process that builds trust and legitimacy. In my final commentary in this exchange, I’d like to return to discussing Socolow’s central claim that … Continued

In a few short years just over a quarter-century ago, the Berlin Wall fell, the old Soviet Union collapsed, and the Bulletin was able to set the hands of its Doomsday Clock back farther than ever before: 17 minutes to nuclear midnight. The world seemed to breathe a general sigh of relief, expressed most memorably … Continued

The key variable that changed in August 1945 and led to 70 years of nuclear peace was the perceived enormity of the choice to drop the bomb.

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

Virtual Tour: Turn Back the Clock “] On July 17, 1945, Manhattan Project scientist Leo Szilard writes a petition to U.S. President Harry S. Truman-signed by 70 Manhattan Project scientists-asking him to refrain from using atomic weapons in the war. Nevertheless, Truman used two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on … Continued

The story of the scientist He Jiankui and the world’s first genetically edited humans, born from fertilized eggs modified with CRISPR-cas9 technology, is one in which high-tech ambition meets capitalism with Chinese characteristics. And the poor village boy pursued both his ambition and the capital required to reach it with shrewdness and zest, apparently trampling ethical boundaries along the way in a system that allowed him to trample away.

Oppenheimer could instigate a much-needed public conversation about the dangers of nuclear weapons. The world will be better served if that conversation also includes the people affected by nuclear weapons production, testing, and use.

Storytelling is an important tool in changing public perception. In an interview, Lesley M. M. Blume, author of the newly released Fallout, provides some important advice on how to incorporate storytelling on nuclear weapons issues.

Although Nolan’s film is not technically accurate throughout, the adjustments in 'Oppenheimer' are made for understandable artistic reasons, writes an historian of the Manhattan Project.

Investigators are focusing on one factory in Ukraine as a black-market source for North Korea, a new report and classified intelligence assessments say.

Just 50 years after the Roman Empire grew to its largest size, a mysterious and crippling pandemic known as the Antonine plague brought it to its knees. Research on climate change and in other areas is shedding light into how the plague, which preceded centuries of decline, emerged to pack such a devastating punch.

After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, scientists became a force in American politics, advocating for scientific openness and international control of nuclear weapons.

A Framework for Tomorrow’s Pathogen Research Final Report Chairs Ravindra Gupta Ameenah Gurib-Fakim Shahid Jameel David Relman Directors Jesse Bloom Filippa Lentzos February 2024 Introduction Reasons for hope Reasons for caution Ethical obligations Research Governance Trust-building Recommendations Introduction Safe, secure, and responsible high-risk research Joseph Rotblat, a physicist who quit the Manhattan Project and later … Continued

Australia’s 2019-20 summer wildfires are harbingers of death on a hotter planet. But they did not come without warning. The question now is: What are we going to do about it?