Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 21, 2023
Posted: 21st September 2023
September 21, 2023
A young chimpanzee feeling the heat. During Fongoli’s dry season, temperatures can reach as high as 48 C (120 F). (Fongoli, Senegal) Credit: Courtesy of Passion Planet Ltd.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Wonder in the time of climate crisis
Should animal adaptations to climate change inspire fear or wonder? Evolution Earth, a new PBS documentary series, suggests a bit of both, writes Bulletineditor Jessica McKenzie. Read more.
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Congressional staffers created antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And that’s a good thing.
Over the summer, Congressional staffers traveled to California to try making antibiotic-resistant bacteria at a biology lab. No, it wasn’t an attempt to seed a dangerous outbreak, write two biosecurity experts. “It was all part of a workshop on biosecurity for policymakers.” Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Yes, nuclear weapons are immoral. They’re also, practically speaking, useless.
If you argue against nuclear weapons with a two-step process—first explaining why they are unnecessary and then arguing that the weapons are horrible and immoral—there’s a clear pathway to elimination, writes Ward Hayes Wilson, director of the Rethinking Nuclear Weapons project. Read more.
Join us for Conversations
Before Midnight 2023
We are thrilled to announce that the Bulletin’s annual gathering will feature award-winning director Christopher Nolan as our keynote speaker.
As with past gatherings, we will provide unique access to high-level conversations with world-renowned experts on nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biosecurity.
NUCLEAR RISK
Lessons from Zaporizhzhia: How to protect reactors against ‘nuclear piracy’
The attack and occupation of nuclear reactors by Russia—a nuclear weapon state—exposed a wholly new kind of risk, which needs a new term, argue two nuclear experts. Read more.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict and Sino-U.S. tensions, the ominous tick of the Doomsday Clock edges closer to midnight. It is imperative that humanity remembers the grave consequences of military nuclear use and testing.”
— Katsuhiro Asagiri, “What the movie Oppenheimer missed,” Nepali Times
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