Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 2, 2025
Posted: 2nd January 2025
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Detail of a stained-glass window in the Strategic Air Command Memorial Chapel. The red telephone is a symbol of global alert and readiness. Collin Van Son writes on seeing this chapel, and other examples of US messaging on nuclear weapons, in “Dispatch from a nuclear petting zoo.” (Air Force photo)
GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHDI”>”Dispatch from a nuclear petting zoo.”
“In his powerful piece, Collin Van Son offers a deft and often wry account of his tour of Offutt Air Force Base in Eastern Nebraska, home of the US Strategic Command,” Bulletin Editor in Chief John Mecklin said. “[His] essay is, at its core, deeply serious, focusing on the words, images, and metaphors that, he writes, ‘speak to a deep-seated belief that nuclear weapons are natural and controllable, and therefore acceptable.’ Van Son explains why that belief needs fundamental re-examination—by voters, leaders, and nuclear experts—in precisely the type of well-argued and distinctive prose that the Rieser Award is meant to honor.” GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHHI”>Fusion: The Uncertain Certainty
By Richard F. Post
“Fusion power does not exist today.” An archival sample of what the Bulletinhas published before on fusion energy research, to provide a little perspective on how far we’ve come (and how far we have to go). GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwX5PD”>
BEST OF 2024
GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHDK”>Read more and check out other entries, from an article on MIT researchers potentially discovering a 1918 flu-related security flaw to the Bulletin’s work this year on the GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHDM”>A ‘GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHDM”>Read more.GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHHE”>Read more.GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHHF”>Read more in an article also selected as a GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHHH”>An existential presidential timeline
By Thomas Gaulkin, François Diaz-Maurin, Jessica McKenzie, Matt Field, and Sara Goudarzi
A 2024 multimedia highlight: As the US presidential election approached, we thought it prudent to reflect on how the existential threats the Bulletin is most concerned about—nuclear risk, climate change, biosecurity, and disruptive technologies—have been handled over the last two presidencies.
An editorial team effort, key moments from the Trump and Biden administrations were selected in each of those topic areas, and the multimedia team gathered them into an interactive timeline that makes it easy to compare how things were handled by the White House over the last eight years.
(Photo-illustration by Thomas Gaulkin; photos via Getty Images)
Your gift fuels our mission to educate and empower. Together we will work to ensure science serves humanity.
GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHHF”>Read more in an article also selected as a GDGIIHOD5KqywE7UeJx2H-ijtX2luY4YXfEJaTODH.u0Uy.zeFv2o2hi_MjvYwXHHH”>An existential presidential timeline
By Thomas Gaulkin, François Diaz-Maurin, Jessica McKenzie, Matt Field, and Sara Goudarzi
A 2024 multimedia highlight: As the US presidential election approached, we thought it prudent to reflect on how the existential threats the Bulletin is most concerned about—nuclear risk, climate change, biosecurity, and disruptive technologies—have been handled over the last two presidencies.
An editorial team effort, key moments from the Trump and Biden administrations were selected in each of those topic areas, and the multimedia team gathered them into an interactive timeline that makes it easy to compare how things were handled by the White House over the last eight years.
(Photo-illustration by Thomas Gaulkin; photos via Getty Images) Your gift fuels our mission to educate and empower. Together we will work to ensure science serves humanity.