Nuclear war between two nations could spark global famine

Many warehouses around the world would empty of crops such as wheat after a small nuclear war.Credit: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg via Getty

Even a small conflict in which two nations unleash nuclear weapons on each other could lead to worldwide famine, research suggests. Soot from burning cities would encircle the planet and cool it by reflecting sunlight back into space. This in turn would cause global crop failures that — in a worst-case scenario — could put five billion people on the brink of death.