Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, August 10, 2023
Posted: 10th August 2023
August 10, 2023
Screen capture from a video on YouTube about the Black Death with over 3 million views repeats the claim that a besieging army launched plague victims over the walls of Caffa. Flashpoint History/YouTube.
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Catapulting corpses? A famous case of medieval biowarfare probably didn’t happen
For years people have repeated the story of Mongol commanders hurling their plague dead over the fortress walls of Caffa as a final resort in battle. But is it true? Bulletin biosecurity editor Matt Field explores the question. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
My grandfather helped build the bomb. Oppenheimer sanitized its impacts
“Theory will only take you so far,” Oppenheimer says in Christopher Nolan’s movie. Author Emily Strasser argues that the movie stops too short. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
What Barbie can teach us about nuclear weapons
The peculiar “Barbenheimer” phenomenon provides insight into popular imagination and what nuclear weapons represent to the general public, writes PhD candidate Emily Faux. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
What can we learn from Oppenheimer about the blind spots in nuclear storytelling?
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, says international relations theorist Shampa Biswas. Read more.
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SPECIAL TOPICS
A perspective from 1988: The Third World needs scientific advancement
In this article from the Bulletin magazine issue above, theoretical physicist Abdus Salam calls on first-world countries to provide support for scientific advancement in third-world countries, noting that “The science community in the poor countries has received scant help from its peers.” Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Top medical journals call for global action to reduce nuclear war risk
In an article appearing in 100 publications, medical experts have called on health professionals “to alert the public and our leaders to this major danger to public health and the essential life support systems of the planet.” Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Failed visionaries: Scientific activism and the Cold War
After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, scientists became a force in American politics, advocating for scientific openness and international control of nuclear weapons. Read more.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This film humanizes Oppenheimer. When will the victims be humanized?”
— DePaul University professor Yuki Miyamoto , “A well-timed Oppenheimer,” Chicago Reader
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