Weapons
How Saddam and ISIS Killed Iraqi Science
Within decades the country’s scientific infrastructure went from world-class to shambles. What happened?
Mister Rogers Pioneered Speaking to Kids About Gun Violence
We need the children's television icon now more than ever
How a British Engineer Made a Bomb That Could Bounce On Water
Seventy-five years ago, Barnes Wallis masterminded a famous World War II attack that involved skipping a bomb into German dams
How Soviet Bomb Tests Paved the Way For U.S. Climate Science
The untold story of a failed Russian geoengineering scheme, panic in the Pentagon, and a Nixon-era effort to study global cooling
How British Gun Manufacturers Changed the Industrial World Lock, Stock and Barrel
In ‘Empire of Guns,’ historian Priya Satia explores the microcosm of firearm manufacturing through an unlikely subject—a Quaker family
How the Death of 6,000 Sheep Spurred the American Debate on Chemical Weapons
The Dugway sheep incident of March 1968 made visible the military’s covert attempts to test and stockpile millions of dollars worth of chemical weapons
How Portraiture Gave Rise to the Glamour of Guns
American portraiture with its visual allure and pictorial storytelling made gun ownership desirable
Gun Control Is as Old as the Old West
Contrary to the popular imagination, bearing arms on the frontier was a heavily regulated business
The True Story of ‘Waco’ Is Still One of Contention
A new mini-series hopes to humanize those in and outside the doomed compound
Fifty Years Ago, North Korea Captured an American Ship and Nearly Started a Nuclear War
The provocative incident involving the USS Pueblo was peacefully resolved, in part because of the ongoing Vietnam War
How the Presidency Took Control of America's Nuclear Arsenal
From Truman onwards, the ability to order a nuclear strike has shaped the office
Researchers Whack Fake Skulls to Learn About Neolithic Weapons
Was the ‘Thames Beater’ used to kill? Four crushed model skulls say yes
How the First Man-Made Nuclear Reactor Reshaped Science and Society
In December 1942, Chicago Pile-1 ushered in an age of frightening possibility
Was Enrico Fermi Really the “Father of the Nuclear Age”?
A new book takes a fresh look at the famed scientist
The Science Behind the First Nuclear Chain Reaction, Which Ushered in the Atomic Age 75 Years Ago
That fateful discovery helped give us nuclear power reactors and the atomic bomb
JFK Faked a Cold to Get Back to Washington During the Cuban Missile Crisis
The president was in Chicago when he got the news that he needed to make a decision
America's Undead Are Immortalized at the Smithsonian
The cast of "The Walking Dead" donates a set of perfectly macabre Halloween gifts
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Wins Nobel Peace Prize
The grassroots coalition spearheaded a U.N. treaty to outlaw nuclear arms and hopes to make them taboo, like chemical weapons
Trinity Site Offers a Rare Chance to Visit Ground Zero of the World’s First Atomic Bomb Explosion
The detonation site is only open to civilians twice a year
Man Who Saved the World From Nuclear Annihilation Dies at 77
In 1983, Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov kept his cool and reported a U.S. missile strike as a false alarm, preventing a massive counterstrike
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