During the Cold War, a mid-air fire led to a nuclear bomber crash in Greenland that left a piece of a hydrogen bomb missing to this day.

In 1962, the US detonated a nuclear weapon in space, which produced an electromagnetic pulse that disabled three low Earth orbit satellites and damaged electrical equipment in Hawaii.

While both are nuclear weapons, atomic bombs release nuclear energy by splitting large atomic nuclei, whereas hydrogen bombs derive most of their energy from fusing heavy hydrogen isotopes.

The Chernobyl disaster released more radioactive material than the Hiroshima bomb

A reactor explosion during a safety test resulted in a series of evacuations and resettlements that displaced over 300,000 people and left areas uninhabitable for up to 20,000 years. The Soviet government initially tried to hide the disaster, but rising radiation levels were identified by detectors in Sweden.

The story of the Manhattan Project's unused demon core

A 3-inch, 14-pound sphere of nuclear reactive plutonium-gallium was set to be delivered to the Pacific Theater in 1945 to become the third atomic bomb dropped over Japan. When Japan surrendered, it was returned to Los Alamos in New Mexico for experiment, where two scientists would die testing whether the core could reach criticality—where it would release intense energy—via the use of a dense reflector. Watch the story here.

The Manhattan Project, the top-secret American program that built the world's first atomic bomb, cost $27B in today's dollars and reshaped global power.

Simulations of atmospheric transport have shown that radioactive material released from potential strikes to US nuclear missile silos would reach everyone in the continental US.

The Gasbuggy Project detonated a nuclear bomb to fracture underground rock formations

Part of Project Plowshare—a program aimed at finding peaceful uses for nuclear devices—the 1967 experiment sought to extract natural gas trapped within shale in underground New Mexico. Gas radioactivity was found to be excessively high for use without expensive processing, and the project was deemed an economic failure.

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.

The origin of atmospheric science while testing nuclear weapons during the Cold War

The arms race between the US and the Soviet Union saw both countries stockpiling and detonating hundreds of bombs underground, underwater, and in the atmosphere. To better predict where nuclear fallout would travel after these tests, scientists developed models that would serve as a foundation for those used to explain atmospheric circulation.

Discovering how the dinosaurs went extinct may have helped avert nuclear war

This NPR Throughline episode explains how the 1980 discovery that an asteroid-driven dust cloud killed the dinosaurs inspired Cold War scientists' fears of "nuclear winter"—a sunlight-blocking aftermath of nuclear war that may have discouraged leaders from launching one.

The H-bomb is hundreds of times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Unlike the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, which relied on nuclear fission, the hydrogen bomb uses fusion to unleash vastly greater destructive power. Developed by both superpowers in the 1950s, it gave each the ability to destroy entire cities in seconds.

The Manhattan Project operated at three key sites, each with a distinct role in building the first atomic bomb.

A US project proposed a 10-gigaton nuclear bomb capable of global devastation

Planned in the early 1950s by US scientists, Project Sundial aimed to create a 10-gigaton thermonuclear bomb—hundreds of times more powerful than any weapon ever built. Had it been tested, it was expected to cause global environmental catastrophe.

Cold War nuclear tests exposed thousands to atomic blasts

After World War II, nuclear powers conducted thousands of weapons tests. This video pairs archival footage with interviews of veterans who witnessed Pacific test explosions, capturing the scale, shock, and human experience of being near a nuclear detonation.

The US once had a plan to nuke the moon

In the 1950s, the US considered detonating a hydrogen bomb on the moon as part of a Cold War show of force. Known as Project A119, the classified plan aimed to create a visible explosion from Earth to signal American dominance in the Space Race.

The US once had a plan to nuke the moon

In the 1950s, the US considered detonating a hydrogen bomb on the moon as part of a Cold War show of force. Known as Project A119, the classified plan aimed to create a visible explosion from Earth to signal American dominance in the space race.

Learn how Japan used the jet stream to launch attacks on US soil during World War II

In the final two years of the war, over 9,000 Fu-Go balloon bombs were launched from Japan, with about a thousand estimated to have reached North America. Six civilians killed by a Fu-Go bomb in Bly, Oregon, on May 5, 1945, became the only known deaths on American soil by enemy action during the war.

Over a lifetime, the average American's nuclear power usage creates a hockey puck of nuclear waste

Spent nuclear fuel remains hot and highly radioactive for long periods, requiring submersion in cooling pools before being stored in dry casks and deep underground repositories. The potential recycling of nuclear waste is impeded by security concerns and dangerous reprocessing methods, particularly when obtaining fresh uranium is often easier.

In 2012, scientists purposely crashed a Boeing 727 to identify where the safest place to sit is on a plane in order to survive a belly-flop-style impact.

Limited transparency soon after Chernobyl made it a source of conspiracy theories

Some rumors about the event became perceived as more reliable than the Soviet mass media, which had omitted key information during the early days of uncertainty. The resulting theories included CIA involvement in the disaster, three-headed birds, aliens, and a weaponized earthquake.

The discovery of the neutron paved the way for nuclear weapons

In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the subatomic particle when trying to explain the radiation emitted by beryllium after it was bombarded with alpha particles. The radiation’s ability to eject protons from a target suggested a chargeless particle with slightly more mass than a proton.

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan, killing at least 80,000 people instantly.

The atomic bombs dropped on Japan had massive human costs

The US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 killed around 210,000 people—more than 38,000 of them estimated to be children—with tens of thousands more later dying from radiation-linked illnesses, leaving lifelong trauma and increased cancer risks.

Spies working on the Manhattan Project propelled the Soviet bomb program

Soviet infiltration—most notably by Klaus Fuchs—smuggled detailed implosion-design and hydrogen‑bomb data from Los Alamos to Moscow, cutting the USSR’s development time by at least a year and enabling their first atomic test in August 1949.

Experts argue that nuclear war is more likely than is commonly believed

The podcast highlights that many of the world's roughly 12,000 nuclear weapons—capable of triggering global collapse and nuclear winter—remain on high alert. Experts warn that this status, combined with limited public awareness, makes nuclear war disturbingly plausible.

The incredibly advanced engineering of the B-2 Bomber

B-2 Bombers are the world's most expensive plane, coming in at a cost of $2B per aircraft. There are roughly 20 in the world, all in use by the United States Air Force. They are known for their single-wing profile, allowing for stealth and the ability to transport some of the world's largest bombs.

An imbalance in nuclear reactivity factors caused Chernobyl's reactor to explode

The initial explosion resulted from excessive steam pressure that had built up in a runaway manner due to design flaws and violations of safety protocols. Once exposed to atmospheric oxygen, the hot graphite in the control rods underwent a combustion reaction, resulting in a secondary explosion.

See how global nuclear arsenals surged—then shrank—by country since 1945

Worldwide nuclear stockpiles peaked at over 60,000 warheads in the mid‑1980s during the US-Soviet arms race. Today, about nine nations collectively maintain roughly 12,000 warheads, with Russia and the US still holding the majority.

A primer on the president's nuclear football

During the Cold War, the United States and the USSR were forced to prepare for a nuclear strike at a moment's notice, leading to a new innovation: the so-called "football" (known as the chemodanchik in Russia), a bag containing nuclear strike plans, authentication codes, and likely a communication device, which attended the country's leader wherever they went. This easy-to-read piece breaks down the history and lore around the high-stakes quirk in nuclear governance.

The threat of nuclear annihilation reshaped global diplomacy

The first use of atomic weapons introduced the possibility of a war with no survivors. This article examines how nuclear fear shaped Cold War diplomacy and continues to influence international relations today.

Four Cold War hawks warn: Nuclear weapons still threaten the world

Despite the Cold War's end, the US and Russia still hold 95% of the world's nuclear weapons—many on hair-trigger alert. In this 2010 documentary, top former officials urge urgent action to reduce and eliminate the threat.

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.

Worried that Nazi Germany could weaponize nuclear fission first, Albert Einstein wrote a 1939 letter warning President Roosevelt about the possibility of atomic bombs—a decision he later regretted.

The Soviet Union’s surprising first atomic test ended the US nuclear monopoly

In 1949, the USSR successfully tested its first atomic bomb—ending the US monopoly on nuclear weapons and sparking an arms race that would define the Cold War.

Meet the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project.

Watch an American news report of the Chernobyl disaster

Americans first heard about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster two days after the event, once abnormal radiation was detected in nearby countries. This forced Soviet officials to acknowledge the catastrophe publicly for the first time a few days after it occurred.

The Chernobyl disaster prompted a sharp decline in public confidence in nuclear power

A Gallup poll from two months after the disaster showed 73% of respondents opposed building a nuclear plant near their homes—up from 45% in 1976. Chernobyl and other nuclear accidents remain in the public consciousness today in debates about nuclear power.

There is a secretive bomb-proof bunker located under the White House

Built in 1942 during World War II, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center lies beneath the East Wing. Designed to protect the president during air raids—and later nuclear threats—it remains a top-secret command site used during crises like 9/11.