Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 28, 2024
Posted: 28th November 2024
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Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
GEORGIOS PAPPAS
Lysenko, Mbeki, and RFK Jr.: Leaders who shun science will face predictably bad results
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary, is known for his pseudoscientific public comments and actions. History provides some lessons as to what can happen when leaders turn their backs on the science necessary to address societal challenges. Read more.
CHLOE SHRAGER
A growing nuclear debate: The risk of calling everything a nuclear threat
The nuclear lexicon lacks a universal definition of what constitutes a nuclear threat. And that’s dangerous. Bulletin editorial fellow Chloe Shrager spoke to nuclear experts from around the world with different interpretations of what constitutes a nuclear threat. Read more.
SEYED HOSSEIN MOUSAVIAN
Trump’s chance for a major breakthrough in Iran-West relations
Iran and the EU3 agreed to hold talks in Geneva, seeking a possible solution to the nuclear impasse over Iran’s nuclear program. (The United States declined to participate.) These new negotiations offer the incoming Trump administration a golden opportunity to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and perhaps improve relations throughout the Middle East. Read more.
JAKE BITTLE
The slippery challenge of defining climate adaptation
Last year’s COP saw agreement on specific target areas for adaptation, including water, health, biodiversity, food, infrastructure, poverty, and heritage. But to measure progress in these target areas, negotiators have proposed a whopping 10,000 potential indicators. Read more.
RICHARD C. J. SOMERVILLE
Advice for Thanksgiving 2024: How to deal with the climate change-denier at the table
Back by popular demand, here is one climate scientist’s advice about the trickiest part of any Thanksgiving gathering: How to handle a climate change-denier who cites false information from talk radio and social media. Read more.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We are sleepwalking into a dystopian future. The COP process has thus far failed, because it depends on the good faith of the major polluters, and instead of doing what is necessary for our common survival, they are literally adding fuel to the flames.”
— Payam Akhavan, attorney for the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, “The UN climate summit ended in bitterness and accusations of betrayal. Now fears are growing for its future,”CNN
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