Defense
This Code Breaking Quaker Poet Hunted Nazis
How Elizebeth Smith Friedman went from scouring Shakespeare for secret codes to taking down a Nazi spy ring
Defense59 articles archived since 1845
Climate Change
‘The Moose’ and Other Military Planes May Have to Cut Cargo as Planet Warms
The C-17 Globemaster III—which transports troops and tanks—may have to shed weight as rising temperatures driven by climate change affect flying conditions
Defense
They Remembered the Lost Women of the Manhattan Project So That None of Us Would Forget
Physicists Ruth Howes and Caroline Herzenberg’s 10-year research project ensured a place in history for the female scientists, engineers and technicians who worked on the atomic bomb...
Defense
Meet the Physicist who Spoke Out against the Bomb She Helped Create
After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear physicist Katharine Way persuaded the world’s greatest physicists to contribute essays to a book opposing nuclear weapons...
Defense
She Helped Build the Atomic Bomb to Stop the Nazis, But Was Haunted by What It Did to Japan
Here’s the story of the Lilli Hornig, the only female scientist named in the film Oppenheimer.
Defense
Meet the Woman Who Supervised the Computations That Proved an Atomic Bomb Would Work
Naomi Livesay worked on computations that formed the mathematical basis for implosion simulations. Despite her crucial role on the project, she is rarely mentioned as more than a footnote—until now...
Defense
This Lost Woman of the Manhattan Project Saw the Deadly Effects of Nuclear Radiation Up Close
Floy Agnes Lee came to Los Alamos, N.M., in 1945 knowing nothing of the top secret work on the atomic bomb happening all around her—but she studied the blood of the researchers who did...
History
What Was the Manhattan Project?
The top-secret Manhattan Project resulted in the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945
Defense
Here’s What Oppenheimer Gets Right—And Wrong—About Nuclear History
Here’s what a historian who has studied J. Robert Oppenheimer for two decades has to say about the new Christopher Nolan film on the father of the atomic bomb.
Defense
What the Film Oppenheimer Probably Will Not Talk About: The Lost Women of the Manhattan Project
Hundreds of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project were women. They were physicists, chemists, engineers and mathematicians. Today we bring you the story of one of them...
Climate Change
Climate Change Threatens U.S. Nuclear Strike Capability
A new report says flooding and heat waves exacerbated by climate change could complicate U.S. nuclear launches
Defense
Russia Is Trying to Leave the Internet and Build Its Own
Russia and other nations are working on “sovereign Internet” systems that threaten digital rights—and the stability of the global Internet
Space Exploration
China’s Mysterious Space Plane Returns to Earth
Specialists speculate that a Chinese spacecraft that spent nine months in Earth’s orbit might be similar to a U.S. space plane, and it could have research or military uses...
Defense
At Hiroshima, Leaders Should Choose to End All Nuclear Threats
Facing Russia’s nuclear threats, the U.S. and its G7 allies must not whitewash their own
Defense
Drone-on-Drone Combat in Ukraine Marks a New Era of Aerial Warfare
Antidrone technology is combatting “flying IEDs” in the air over Ukraine—with implications beyond the war with Russia
Defense
Space Force Humor, Laser Dazzlers, and the Havoc a War in Space Would Actually Wreak
In the inaugural episode of Cosmos, Quickly, we blast off with Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno of the Space Force, who is charged with protecting our space in space, particularly from Russia and China...
Aerospace
What High-Tech Prizes Does the Downed U.S. Drone Hold? Russia Really Wants to Know
An MQ-9 Reaper drone is sitting at the bottom of the Black Sea. Will the U.S. or Russia recover it?
Politics
We Must Prevent a New Nuclear Arms Race
Smart U.S. leadership and international pressure on Russia can prevent an unconstrained global nuclear arms race
Defense
Chinese Spy Balloon Saga Shows UFOs Deserve Serious Investigations
By shunting pilot observations aside, the Pentagon likely fostered a UFO fad and overlooked Chinese intelligence technology entering U.S. airspace
Defense
Why We’re Suddenly Spotting Spy Balloons
Every question we have about the airborne objects that may or may not be spying on the U.S.
