Nukes

Scientists searching for quasicrystals—so-called ‘impossible’ materials with unusual, non-repeating structures—have identified one in remnants of the world’s first nuclear bomb test. The previously unknown structure, made of iron, silicon, copper and calcium, probably formed from the fusion of vapourized desert sand and copper cables. Similar materials have been synthesized in…

During the Cold War, Russia's Nagurskoye airbase was little more than a runway, a weather station and a communications outpost in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It was a remote and desolate home mostly for polar bears, where temperatures plunge in winter to minus-42 Celsius (43 degrees below zero Fahrenheit)…

In Review Serhii Plokhy’s ‘gripping narrative’ reveals the bad decisions that led to the Cuban missile crisis Over two weeks in October 1962, the world came as close as it ever has to nuclear catastrophe, said Victor Sebestyen in the FT. The Cuban missile crisis was triggered by the CIA…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Biden administration appears to be picking up where former President Donald Trump left off as the federal agency that oversees U.S. nuclear research and bomb-making has approved the conceptual design and cost range for infrastructure investments for a multibillion-dollar project to manufacture key components for…

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Israeli officials meeting in Washington on Tuesday discussed their serious concerns about advancements in Iran's nuclear program and agreed on the "significant threat" posed by Iran's behavior in the Middle East, the White House said. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Israeli national security…

A farmer works in his field near the cooling towers at the nuclear power plant in Saint-Laurent-Nouan, France, in 2016. (Regis Duvignau/Reuters) A review of The Dark Horse: Nuclear Power and Climate Change, by Rauli Partanen and Janne Korhonen “It is an enduring mystery to me why it is that…

JERUSALEM — A missile launched from Syria was fired into southern Israel early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens near the country's top-secret nuclear reactor, the Israeli military said. In response, it said it attacked the missile launcher and air-defense systems in neighboring Syria. The incident, marking some of the…

SA-5 flies from Syria all the way to Negev in the longest-range attack yet by Syria; Patriot missile activated in response. Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. (photo credit: REUTERS) Israel and Syria exchanged missile attacks early on Thursday morning, after Damascus launched an advanced surface-to-air…

© Getty Images Israel's military said it attacked the missile launcher and air defense systems in Syria in response to a missile launched from the neighboring country that set off air raid sirens near its nuclear reactor. The Associated Press reported that the strike from Syria into Israel likely involved Iran,…

Israel has targeted a number of positions in southern Syria after a missile landed in the direction of a secretive nuclear facility. "A short while ago, surface-to-air missile fire was identified from Syria, which landed in the Negev area," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement sent to Newsweek…