Explore the decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Manage the control room of a virtual nuclear power plant

This interactive takes you on a tour of a virtual plant before handing you the keys to the control room. Challenge yourself to produce enough energy to meet demand while avoiding a nuclear meltdown.

Watch an animated, step-by-step reconstruction of the Chernobyl explosion

This video shows how a 1986 safety test at Chernobyl spiraled out of control—leading to a massive rise in temperatures, an explosion and reactor meltdown that produced the largest civilian nuclear disaster in history.

View a list of the worst nuclear meltdowns before 2013

Nuclear meltdowns occur when a reactor overheats and radioactive materials leach into the surrounding environment. While rare, the reasons for each occurrence—as detailed in this piece—can help establish new safety protocols for future reactors.

The 'Elephant's Foot' in Chernobyl is part of the largest documented mass of corium

The nuclear disaster produced around 200 tons of nuclear fuel that mixed with the surrounding melted reactor core materials. As of 2025, corium has been naturally formed four other times in history: once during the Three Mile Island accident and three times at the Fukushima Daiichi plant disaster.

Visualize what happens to atoms during nuclear fission and how the process produces energy

Nuclear fission occurs when an unstable, often massive, atomic nucleus splits into smaller ones—daughter atoms—and releases energy. Within a nuclear reactor, these daughter atoms can collide and combine with neighboring atoms, destabilizing them and triggering a chain reaction of atomic splitting.

Explore an interactive map of historical volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis

The Natural Hazards Viewer allows users to map the locations of major natural hazards from 2150 BCE to the present. Advanced filters allow for various refinement methods, including volcano morphology, earthquake magnitude, tsunami height, deaths, and damage.

Explore next-generation geothermal projects worldwide

This tool from the Clean Air Task Force allows users to see the location of geothermal power systems to depths of 12.5 kilometers (7.8 miles), where temperatures reach about 450 degrees Celsius (842 degrees Fahrenheit), including proposed, abandoned, and in-development projects.

An 800-ton shake table is the world's largest earthquake simulator

After the 1995 Kobe earthquake killed over 6,000 people, Japan created E-Defense to reproduce the force of earthquakes and test them against structures as tall as 10 stories, leading to changes in Japanese building codes to reduce collapse rates.

Nine eyewitness accounts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors

Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the first cities in history to be hit with nuclear weapons, where tens of thousands of civilians were killed nearly instantly. Hundreds of thousands of people who survived the bombings—referred to as hibakusha—dealt with wounds, radiation poisoning, and alienation from a society unable to process what had happened. This collection of accounts lets nine of those survivors speak, including one of the 165 survivors of both bombings.

Misleading measurements and fear-based reporting often exaggerate radiation risks

Daily exposure to radioactivity is common but occurs in low doses outside of locations near nuclear accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima. Researchers have detected radiation in tuna, bananas, and the human body due to increasing instrumental sensitivity, not rising concentrations.

Tsunamis are caused by sudden seafloor shifts displacing water

Earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 with hypocenters within 100 km of the seafloor can vertically shift large sections of the seafloor significantly. This seismic activity is more commonly found in subduction zones, where an oceanic plate sinks beneath a continental one.

A VR tour of Auschwitz narrated by three Holocaust survivors

Receive a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum through this nearly 10-minute long virtual reality video. Get a 360° view of different sections of the former concentration and extermination camp while hearing the reminiscences of three survivors and learning more about the atrocities committed there over the course of five years.

Simulate the impact of an antimatter bomb around the world

Using "Total Annihilator," users can click on a location on the map, select the antimatter mass, and the observation altitude before detonating the bomb. Scrolling through the left sidebar reveals the impacts of the detonation, including the sizes of the resulting fireball and thermal pulse, the spread of ionizing radiation, and the atmospheric effects.

Learn more about the three sites that powered the Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project relied on three main sites: Oak Ridge, which enriched uranium; Hanford, which produced plutonium in large reactors; and Los Alamos, which designed and assembled the bombs—work that culminated in the Trinity nuclear test in 1945.

Watch how engineers salvaged almost every sunken ship at Pearl Harbor

This four-part video series explains the massive effort to raise, repair, and refloat the Pacific Fleet—detailing the engineering challenges, diving operations, and months of around-the-clock work that restored all but three damaged ships to active service.

Turning nuclear waste into cancer medications

This video explores Terrapower, a company transforming nuclear waste into lifesaving cancer treatments. This is accomplished through the production and use of Actinium 225, a rare isotope derived from thorium, which is used in targeted alpha therapy to treat cancer.

A visualization of mycoremediation, where fungi extract toxic and radioactive pollutants from soil

As organisms such as mushrooms grow, they develop large networks of root-like structures called mycelium that spread underground and release enzymes that break down contaminants. By absorbing these chemicals, fungi limit the damage caused by these toxins and localize them within the organism for easier collection and disposal.

Explore how close you live to some of the most contaminated places in the US

Known as Superfund sites, these toxic locations undergo long-term cleanup to remove hazardous waste, protect health, and restore land for safe reuse. As of 2025, the EPA lists around 1,300 active Superfund sites on its National Priorities List, with more than 450 cleaned and removed since 1980.

A breakdown of the Detonation Research Test Facility, which features a 500-foot explosion tube

Located at Texas A&M University, DRTF is the largest explosions lab in the world as of 2026 and features a steel-and-concrete structure that scientists use to initiate and track explosions with split-second precision. Among the facility's goals are studying the large industrial explosions, hypersonic flight, and supernovae.

Explore an interactive diary of the International Space Station

The tool enables users to learn about the daily events that occurred on the ISS since continuous human occupancy began on November 2, 2000. Upon selecting a date in the calendar, users can explore activity logs, relevant news, and multimedia content, including videos, photographs, and audiologs, from the onboard crew.

Plastic debris across the ocean aids the spread of invasive species

The durable, long-lasting material can serve as a platform for living organisms to latch onto and ride over vast distances. After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a large dock carrying 100 tons of living organisms native to Japan washed up on Oregon's coastline, confirming the ecological threat.

Watch a time-lapse of the construction of a data center

After the external structure of a data center is built, cooling systems are installed, followed by interior offices and other rooms. Before installing racks of servers and other equipment, floors are raised beneath where they will be installed to create space for cold fluid to be pumped into the hardware and to facilitate cable management.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Go inside the Washington Monument

This video tour of the Washington Monument explores its interior, construction delays, political battles, memorial stones, earthquake damage, and later modernization—showing how symbolism, engineering, and 19th-century politics shaped the nation's tallest monument.

The art and architecture of the devastated Pompeii

Long buried under feet of ash, the city of Pompeii's discovery millennia later sparked a world of imagination and tragedy. See a collection of paintings, buildings, and photographs from the city all in one easy-to-browse gallery.

Japan is home to the world's only geothermal steam dye workshop

The Hachimantai Geothermal Dyeing Workshop sees artisans and visitors use volcanic steam to fix dyes and add gradations to patterns, creating tie-dyed handkerchiefs and mini-scarves.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.