Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 1st, 2026

Posted: 1st January 2026

January 1, 2026

On September 4, 2025, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted business and technology leaders for a dinner at the White House. (Official White House photo)

A year in review: How Big Tech redefined governance and the economy in 2025

If it hadn’t already been apparent, Big Tech’s influence on, and integration with, governmental bodies and other sectors of society became abundantly clear this year. Bulletin disruptive technologies editor Sara Goudarzi shares articles that explored the AI revolution and the expanding influence of powerful technology companies in 2025. Read more.

The best multimedia stories of 2025

To deal with the range of strangeness and cruelty that 2025 offered, the Bulletin’s multimedia team embarked on a variety of new endeavors that helped explain the existential threats the world faces in inventive ways. Bulletinmultimedia editors Erik English and Thomas Gaulkin share a few of their favorite efforts. Read more.

The best biosecurity coverage of 2025

The Bulletin extensively covered the remarkable change in course that US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed in public health and the scientific enterprise in 2025. Bulletin biosecurity editor Matt Field highlights some of the best articles from the last year on Kennedy’s changes to public health and a few other pieces that stood out in our biosecurity coverage. Read more.

Stopping the Clock on catastrophic AI risk

The development of AI is being driven by some of the most powerful companies on Earth, and the technology is becoming increasingly intertwined in high-stakes geopolitics. There has never been a greater need for independent voices on AI’s science, risks, and governance. This is a role that the Bulletin is positioned to play, writes AI governance expert Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

The United States isn’t prepared for another pandemic. Here’s what should happen

Bulletin biosecurity editor Matt Field interviewed epidemiologist Michael Osterholm about whether the United States is prepared for another pandemic and what should happen before calamity invariably strikes again. A big problem is, as he sees it, a failure to deeply examine the COVID response. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

What happens when seeing is no longer believing?

If members of a society cannot understand and agree upon core facts about their history there is no basis for holding politicians responsible for their actions, write Jacob N. Shapiro and Vestal McIntyre. “And, as George Orwell noted decades ago … terrible things follow when leaders can create their own facts.” This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

Decisions about AI will last decades. Researchers need better frameworks

The decisions that leaders make today about artificial intelligence governance and research priorities could create paths that last for generations, writes Bulletin editorial fellow Abi Olvera. A rigorous, multi-field collaboration is critical at this exact moment, when decision makers are setting foundational defaults. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

Division begets division in the age of algorithmic classification

As people discuss how to make social media better serve them, it’s worth understanding just how deep the problem runs, writes former Bulletin editorial fellow Trenton W. Ford. “The challenge isn’t merely cultural or political: It’s structural. It lives in the algorithms, in the metrics, and in the questions people ask.” This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

Use all the tools of the trade: Building a foundation for the next era of biosecurity

The coming era of biosecurity will demand a broader and more adaptive approach as AI, powerful biological engineering techniques, and globalized scientific research drive progress in biotechnology, write Steph Batalis and Vikram Venkatram. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

BULLETIN EVENT

Art + Science: Harnessing the Power of Art and Storytelling

How do we harness the power of art in drawing attention to the most pressing global threats? How do we support artists in the most trying of times to tell the stories that bring us all together?

To explore these questions, join us for a virtual event featuring David Harrington, founder of the Kronos Quartet, whose music has long confronted the urgencies of social change; science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, whose work imagines social transformation through engaging, creative prose; Lovely Umayam, a nuclear policy expert rooted in activism and art; and Alexandra Bell, who is bringing the Bulletin’s long-standing devotion of arts-driven global engagement into a new era. Register here.

A cartoon featured in an Bulletin magazine issue in January 2001.

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