Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Seismograms put a country's nuclear bluster to the test.

The spread of gas centrifuge technology continues to undermine faith in nonproliferation's future. Is it time to throw in the towel?

From Iron Maiden to Ronald Reagan, songwriters, politicians, and novelists have made the Doomsday Clock and its “minutes to midnight” refrain their own.

As an emblem of annihilation, the mushroom cloud endures decades after its fiery debut.

Acts of extermination are assaults upon the future.

Has the scientific vision of an impending doomsday stripped us of hope?

Twenty-first-century technology, if optimally applied, will offer immense opportunities.

A Cold War mind-set still dominates the United States and Russia, aggravating the risk of nuclear theft–or accidental nuclear war.

The deadly semantics of “weapons of mass destruction.”

Why is there still doubt about the human contribution to climate change?

Is it too late to change people's minds?

As with nuclear weapons, we need new science, new resolve, and new ethics to deal with climate change.

We're not lacking for creative solutions in dealing with climate change. Four leading experts–José Goldemberg, Amory B. Lovins, Stephen Schneider, and M. S. Swaminathan–provide proposals on how we can curb carbon dioxide emissions, reduce global temperatures, sustain economic growth, and summon the necessary political leadership.

Every major technology has been exploited for military purposes.

Will biotechnology be any different?

To grow safely, nanotechnology needs time and space.

Technological innovations might help fight terrorism and prevent wars, but some may become the tiny engines that rule our lives.

Can civilization cope with the unthinkable?

A more open world is a safer world.

Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age, by Joel N. Shurkin. Macmillan, 378 pages, 2006, $27.95.

“Independent Working Group on Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century,” Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, July 2006.