Digging Up the History of the Family Bomb Shelter

For 75 Years, Images of Bunker Life Have Reflected the Shifting Optimism, Anxieties, and Cynicism of the Nuclear Age

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not the first conflict to unfold on social media, but commentators have been quick to dub it the first “TikTok War.” Videos by young Ukrainians inside bomb shelters give us some of the most personal glimpses to date of teenage life inside a war zone. Amassing millions of views, offerings like “My Typical Day in a Bomb Shelter” and “What I Buy in a Supermarket During a War” document destroyed cities, bunker cooking, and daily life underground, with nuclear threat lurking offscreen. Broadcast on …

by Thomas Bishop | April 18, 2022

Everyone Should Know That a Nuclear Bomb Can Incinerate Their Neighborhood in 2.5 Seconds

The Better We All Understand These Weapons’ Power, the Less Likely Governments Are to Use Them

by Paul Carroll | May 14, 2019

I usually try to have fun at social gatherings, but almost inevitably someone who knows what I do for my “day job” asks me about nuclear weapons. “What’s up with …

Before You Push That Big Nuclear Button, Consider the Source

From Intentional Hoaxes to Accidental Alerts, Our Interconnectedness Makes Us Vulnerable to Fear

By Robert Bartholomew | February 20, 2018

Shortly after 8 a.m. on January 13, 2018, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent out a chilling alert to residents across the state of Hawaii: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO …

The Sanitized Rhetoric That Makes Nuclear War More Likely

To Rid the Planet of Atomic Weapons, We Should Dismantle the Language That Makes Them Possible

By Paul Carroll | February 1, 2018

The nuclear age began 73 years ago when a brilliant, terrible flash lit up the pre-dawn sky in the New Mexico desert. That first explosion at the Trinity site in …

Before Going to War in North Korea, Try Understanding the Place First

Armed Conflict Between the U.S. and Pyongyang Isn’t Inevitable—or Impossible

By Reed Johnson | October 25, 2017

With schoolyard taunts hurtling between Washington and Pyongyang, and fears of nuclear Armageddon escalating from Seoul to Tokyo to Los Angeles, the once-unthinkable idea of a military showdown between North …

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