The United States' top nuclear arms official on Friday accused China of carrying out an undisclosed nuclear detonation in 2020, arguing that recent secretive underground tests by China and Russia have given Washington reason to conduct "parallel steps" as a decades-long moratorium on nuclear testing among major powers is unraveling.
But the new year is also a chance to look back at recent turmoil and instability in federally funded scientific research, the wholesale dismissal of evidence in policymaking, andin spite of these thingsthe perseverance of people working in the scientific enterprise. We celebrate the fact-checkers in the field of knowledge and you, our readers, who continue to trust us to bring you what's real, what's factual and what's amazing in our world.
In Kathryn Bigelow's new movie, A House of Dynamite, the clock is ticking. The film's fictional president of the United States has less than 20 minutes and very little information to decide whether or not to retaliate against a nuclear missile, launched at the United States, from an unknown source. The story is, of course, fiction, but as with Bigelow's other war movies, it feels disturbingly plausible.
It is not clear if this message from Israel is sincere, a ruse, or simply voiced by Putin in service of Russia's own interests, warns geopolitical analyst Arman Mahmoudian. "Iranian media reports that Iran has purchased Russian Su-35 fighter jets. If Russia actually delivers them despite the war in Ukraine, it would be a signal of support for Tehran," he told DW.
U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities have raised fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East, prompting international calls for diplomacy and urgent de-escalation.
