Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 22, 2023
Posted: 22nd June 2023
Jose Miranda Mancilla, president of the Pichi Pelluco Cove Union in Puerto Montt, explains the problems that artisanal fishermen have with the salmon aquaculture industry on February 27, 2023. (Photo: Cristobal Venegas)CLIMATE CHANGE
The environmental hazards of farming fish in a warming world
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Earlier this year, associate editor Jessica McKenzie received a grant to travel to Chile to report on the environmental impacts of salmon farming. For nine days, she lived on a boat, traveling with a new Chilean environmental group on their inaugural expedition to survey salmon farms in the Los Lagos region. She interviewed fishermen, locals, and scientists about the ways salmon farming is changing the region and learned how intensive aquaculture and climate change threaten vulnerable ecosystems and species. With Chile supplying more than half of the salmon imported to the United States, this story reveals the real cost of consuming America’s favorite fish. Read more.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Experimental embryology and endangered animal species in 1972
Serving as one of the earliest examples of Bulletin commentary on the impact humans have on the environment, this story by Robert T. Francoeur appeared as the feature article in a 1972 magazine issue that took a deep dive into endangered animal species and the effects of pollution. Read more.
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
The rise of maximum containment laboratoriesThe number of maximum containment laboratories—which are labs where the world’s deadliest diseases are studied—has grown significantly since the early 2000s. Bulletin editor Erik English details the benefits and risks such labs provide in his latest video. Watch now.
$14 T-shirts + a new vintage 1972 Bulletin magazine cover added to our store
As part of our 2023 summer archive dive, this week’s featured magazine cover hails from the 1970s and is here just in time for our summer sale.
While supplies last. Sale ends on June 30th.
IN THE NEWS
As AI spreads, experts predict the best and worst changes in digital life by 2035
In this Pew Research Center article, two technology specialists report on the deep concerns experts have expressed about people’s and society’s overall well-being. One of the experts they cite is Bulletin Science and Security Board member Herb Lin. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Sign up for The Oppenheimer Files
Join us for weekly updates exploring the life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Sign up for this special edition of the Bulletin’s newsletter leading up to the release of the film. Sign up.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If you look at the way the world operates, it’s almost blind to the fact that women bear the biggest burden and brunt of climate change.”
— Susan Chomba, “‘Women bear the biggest brunt of climate change,’ says climate scientist Susan Chomba,” The Guardian
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