Rouhani’s Visit to the UN
Narges Bajoghli, an anthropology PhD student at NYU, writes in The Guardian about Iranian winds of change: Students, activists, artists, and political prisoners rallied behind Rouhani just before the 13 June vote to bring him a 51% victory, hoping to bring about change and some breathing room in Iran again. Ahmadinejad’s presidency was characterized by […]
Nuclear Lessons
Barbara Rose Johnston and Hugh Gusterson ponder nuclear realities at the Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences Barbara Rose Johnston: Radiation is invisible, how do you know when you are in danger? How long will this danger persist? How can you reduce the hazard to yourself and family? What level of exposure is safe? How do […]
A Machinery of Mirrors
Behind the fence of the top secret Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California, scientists have just finished building the most powerful laser in the world. The National Ignition Facility (NIF), as it is called, is a magnificently wasteful piece of engineering at the very frontier of the possible. I think of it as America’s answer to the pyramids. The NIF enables scientists to play with the powers of the gods, creating conditions found inside stars and nuclear explosions half a mile away from a suburban housing development. It was built at a cost of about $4 billion, and yet hardly anyone in America has even heard of it. Lavishly funded by Congress, profiled in the unread science sections of the nation’s newspapers, investigated by countless commissions, spied upon by the nation’s enemies, it is hidden in plain view. What is it for? people ask when I tell them about it. As we shall see, this is not a simple question […]
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