Nine countries, including North Korea, have nuclear weapons. What would happen if a nuclear bomb was dropped-- say, in New York City? We talk to nuclear historian Dr. Alex Wellerstein, nuclear engineer Dr. Tetsuji Imanaka, and epidemiologist Dr. Eric Grant.
UPDATE 04/27: We've adjusted this episode to correct the elevated risk of cancer in survivors of the H ... Show More
Nov 20
Never Put Meatballs on Spaghetti, with Samin Nosrat
Every day we’re all doing a little bit of chemistry: when we bake potatoes, add a little salt to our pasta, or even bake a box cake. And award-winning chef Samin Nosrat just loves to nerd out over all this. She's the author of the best-selling book “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” and has ... Show More
55m 49s
Nov 6
Seed Oils: Should You Switch to Butter?
We’ve been told that foods like butter and bacon are bad for us — because they're packed with saturated fats. And top dogs in nutrition say that a better option is vegetable oil, like canola oil. But lots of people, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are saying hold o ... Show More
43m 40s
Sep 2022
NBN Classic: Kate Brown, "Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future" (Norton, 2019)
This episode proved remarkably popular, so we're reposting it as an NBN classic for those who missed it the first time.
We cannot learn from disasters we do not yet understand. That conviction motivated historian Kate Brown to conduct groundbreaking research into nuclear energy’s ... Show More
47m 27s
Aug 2023
#330 — The Doomsday Machine
<p>Sam Harris speaks with Carl Robichaud about the ongoing threat of nuclear war. They discuss the film "Oppenheimer," the ethics of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the false lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the history and future of nuclear proliferation, th ... Show More
1h 35m
Jul 2023
CultureLab: Oppenheimer – The rise and fall of the “father of the atomic bomb”
First J. Robert Oppenheimer created the weapon, then he fought for years to warn of its dangers. During the second world war, the so-called “father of the atomic bomb”, led a team of scientists in the US in a race against Nazi Germany to create the first nuclear weapon. Then it w ... Show More
27m 52s
Oct 2022
What can we do with nuclear waste?
<p>The race to reduce emissions has more and more nations reaching for the nuclear option. Nuclear power plants are being built around the world, generating carbon-free electricity day and night, windy or calm. But they also generate radioactive waste, some of which can remain de ... Show More
27m 35s
Jul 2020
Ep 53 Radiation: X-Ray Marks the Spot
<p>“I have discovered something interesting, but I do not know whether or not my observations are correct.” With these words, Wilhelm Röntgen introduced the world to an invisible power, a power which would in turn be used to both harm and heal. This week, we take a tour of the wi ... Show More
1h 53m