A scene from COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, a Magnolia Pictures release.

Now showing: Countdown to Zero

By Hugh Gusterson

A new movie for nuclear abolition attracts criticism from surprising quarters.

NHGRI researcher monitors a DNA sequencing machine.

Synthetic biology: Harbinger of an uncertain future?

By Malcolm Dando

Getting to grips with the implications of the rapid advances in the life sciences.

Floods push Somali refugees out of Dadaab, Kenya in 2006.

A brief history of climate change and conflict

By James R. Lee

By identifying specific historical cases where a changing climate contributed to social instability, we can learn a lot about what today's societies can do to cope with climate change.

  • Avoid hyperbole, oversimplification when climate and security meet

    More and more, climate change is becoming part of the national security dialogue. We must tackle the dangers without exaggerating the threats from still-unfolding changes.

  • Climate change and security

    How is global warming affecting existing competition for resources and changing international security priorities? A survey of recent research shows how complex the picture could become. Premium Item

  • The human-climate-wildlife nexus

    As more and more diseases are discovered to be of animal origin and the effects of climate change on disease become clearer, now is the time to examine how best to mobilize health professionals, policy makers, and security experts around these connections. Premium Item

Active nuclear power plant, 2005.

Reprocessing is the answer

By George S. Stanford, Gerald E. Marsh, and William Hannum

Advanced reprocessing technologies offer a path toward ending the use of fossil fuels, allowing the United States to be energy independent, and reducing the threat of proliferation.

  • The history of Iran's nuclear energy program

    For more than 30 years, Tehran has looked for ways to achieve a nuclear power capability--the same amount of time Washington has spent trying to deter it.

  • Creating the ultimate nuclear reactor

    Several next-generation nuclear reactor designs hold the promise of almost completely solving the worst concerns about nuclear energy. There is still a long way to go, however, before we see the “ultimate reactor” in operation. Premium Item

  • Reassessing the nuclear renaissance

    A historical perspective reveals some unanticipated possibilities for the next 20 years. Premium Item

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Analysis

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Op-Eds

  • The passing of a climate prodigy

    By Richard C. J. Somerville

    Reflections on the life and accomplishments of Stephen Schneider, 1945-2010.

  • Missile defense: The future of NATO burden sharing?

    By Thomas Young

    In the event that forward-deployed nuclear weapons in Europe are withdrawn, the political role that these weapons perform within NATO could be fulfilled by the European missile defense architecture.

  • Gimme shelter: The need for a contemporary civil defense program

    By Lawrence M. Wein

    Although typically derided as silly, simple civil defense measures such as sheltering-in-place could saves tens of thousands of lives in the event of a nuclear terrorism attack.

  • Nuclear exchange: RRW for CTBT?

    By Yousaf Butt

    The Obama administration and Senate Democrats want to ratify the CTBT. But to gain Republican support, they will probably need to agree to fund a new nuclear warhead. Is such a trade-off worth it?

  • Advice for the Blue Ribbon Commission

    By Robert Alvarez

    President Barack Obama has convened an expert commission to suggest nuclear waste disposal alternatives to the now abandoned geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. Here's what they should recommend.

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Special Topics

  • Solutions for Copenhagen

    As the climate change meetings kick off in Copenhagen today, many skeptics suggest little progress can be made in the next two weeks. This isn't for lack of solutions. In fact, for months, Bulletin authors have been proposing ways in which to build and support international strategies toward slowing climate change. Are the world's politicians and diplomats listening?

  • Semipalatinsk: 60 years later

    Between 1949 and 1989, the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in what is today Kazakhstan. It did so with little regard for the local population's safety or health. Sixty years have gone by since the first test, but for the Kazakh people, the Soviet testing program still presents a complicated legacy.

  • European missile defense reversed

    It's official. The Obama administration announced today that the contentious Bush-era missile defense system proposed for Eastern Europe is no more. Russia welcomed the news; Poland and the Czech Republic were dismayed. But it's clear that administration officials agree with what Bulletin experts have said all along--the plan was rife with technical and political problems.

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The John A. Simpson Collection. This collection of the Bulletin's most recent ten years honors John A. Simpson and was made possible by a generous gift from The Scorpio Rising Fund and additional donors

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