Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 5, 2024

https://thebulletin.org

This United States election cycle takes place in a landscape full of threats to many of the world’s democracies. The Bulletin’s September 2024 magazine strives to help citizens and their public officials reduce those threats and preserve representative governance. Read more.

THOMAS GAULKIN
The campaign volunteer who used AI to help swing Pakistan’s elections: Interview with Jibran Ilyas

The US-based architect of an unusual electoral intervention tells how and why he created an AI-generated message from former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan—who had been imprisoned on a variety of controversial charges—to his followers in the waning days of Pakistan’s national elections. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time. Read more.

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GEORGE M. MOORE
Why nuclear-powered commercial ships are a bad idea

A recent flurry of publicity has portrayed nuclear-powered commercial ships as a way to combat climate change. But nuclear-powered cargo ships are a particularly bad idea in an era of international terrorism and piracy. Read more.

The N.S. Savannah was the world’s first nuclear powered merchant ship. It launched in 1959 as part of the Atoms for Peace program. Photo: Department of Transportation Maritime Administration

Read our top five stories from August

1. Desertification was supposed to be the ‘greatest environmental challenge of our time.’ Why are experts now worried about greening?
2. Swimming in the Seine? Paris Olympics highlight the challenge of cleaning urban rivers
3. Missiles on the move: Why US long-range missiles in Germany are just the tip of the iceberg
4. Why US nuclear waste policy got stalled. And what to do about it.
5. Who needs a government ban? TikTok users are already defending themselves

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Russia wants the world to think that it is at a nuclear hair trigger and that anything could cause nuclear war [...]”
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— Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, “Why is Russia changing its nuclear doctrine amid the Ukraine war?” Al Jazeera