It's also the day Mom and Dad met on a train crossing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The Japanese would attack six weeks later.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_...

"Strange even to the men who used them" "Atomic bombs" before the discovery of fission

On DOOMSDAY MACHINES, this week I dive into the idea of “atomic bombs” before the discovery of nuclear fission made them actually feasible. I’ve long thought it makes for an interesting case study — a fateful intersection of scientific fact and science fiction. doomsdaymachines.net/p/strange-ev...

Zunar wishing everyone well

After landing in Normandy in 1944, he fought across France and Germany, receiving five battle stars. In the last stages of #WWII, he was tasked with investigating newly liberated concentration camps to gather evidence of war crimes.
www.stripes.com/veterans/202...

Revolution Medicines says its potential breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug succeeds in late-stage trial Revolution Medicines' drug for pancreatic cancer succeeded in a highly anticipated Phase 3 trial, the company said.

A drug for pancreatic cancer succeeded in a highly anticipated Phase 3 trial, almost doubling the typical length of survival and slashing the risk of death by 60% versus chemotherapy.
www.cnbc.com/2026/04/13/p...

Los Alamos Science Number 15:
Special Issue on Stanislaw Ulam 1909 - 1984
Stan Ulam, brilliant mathematician, participant in the Manhattan Project, and co-inventor of the hydrogen bomb, was one of those extraordinary men who solidified LANL's early reputation.
Link: www.osti.gov/servlets/pur...

#WWII Free of charge, the company’s artists created over 1,200 insignia for different military units, including the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and the famed “Flying Tigers.” Disney-designed “nose art” adorned aircraft fuselages.
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-...

Utilizing Time Reversal Ultrasonics to Detect the Removal of Nuclear Materials from Geological Repositories
www.osti.gov/servlets/pur...

Survey of emerging nuclear data needs for nonproliferation applications with advanced reactors
www.osti.gov/servlets/pur...

If you’re at all interested in the complex and lethal mechanics of nuclear war (circa 1960), be sure to read @wellerstein.bsky.social’s detailed and careful analysis of QUICK STRIKE, the primary war plan (which is largely realistic but not real) depicted in this one-of-a-kind Air Force film.

A long look at a QUICK STRIKE The grim realities of a faux nuclear war plan from 1958

For DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week, a post that has in some sense been in the making for something like a decade. It is a very close look at the "war plan," QUICK STRIKE, featured in the formerly classified 1958 film "The Power of Decision," produced for the USAF. doomsdaymachines.net/p/a-long-loo...

Yummies!

The Mythology of Pete Hegseth The Iran War cheerleader-in-chief embraces a dangerous alternate history of the 21st Century

It's gender!

Go figure…

Senseless obloquy: Benjamin Wilson’s false and incoherent vilification of Hans Bethe and Richard Garwin This article is a lengthy critique of an article by Benjamin Wilson that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published online on January 5, 2026.

"Bethe and Garwin did not mislead their audiences, they weren’t hypocrites, and they didn’t act corruptly in their roles as government advisors."

Forgetting the bomb Can nuclear weapons be un-invented?

For DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week: Is it possible to forget how to make nuclear weapons? Some thoughts from fiction, sociology, and history… doomsdaymachines.net/p/forgetting...

A ground-level color photograph of the large and orange-red glowing ROMEO mushroom cloud rising above Bikini Atoll, with an eerie reddish light reflecting on the ocean in the foreground. The sky is red all around and a circular condensation cloud is forming above the cap of the mushroom cloud.

An aerial color photograph of the large and yellow-orange-red glowing ROMEO mushroom cloud rising above the clouds at Bikini Atoll. The sky is red and the long mushroom stem rising from the surface is clearly visible. A condensation cloud is forming above the cap of the mushroom cloud.

Today in 1954 at Bikini Atoll, the United States conducted Castle ROMEO, its third-largest thermonuclear weapon test (11 Megatons, a proof test of the Mark-17 bomb) and the first detonated on a barge (inside the March 1 BRAVO crater, because testing was rapidly vaporizing the atoll’s coral islands).

U.S. uses hundreds of Tomahawk missiles on Iran, alarming some at Pentagon More than 850 Tomahawks have been fired in just four weeks, people familiar with the matter said, alarming some Pentagon officials because the weapon’s supply is limited.

For a pointless war

Gift link

Study suggests shingles shot may help prevent heart attack and stroke Growing research suggests that the shingles vaccine may offer health benefits beyond preventing shingles. A new study suggests that the vaccine may help to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular even...

The shingles vaccine is linked to a significantly lower risk of major cardiovascular events in people with existing heart disease. Vaccinated individuals had reduced risks across multiple outcomes, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and death.
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/shi...

NRC unveils Part 53 final rule

NRC unveils the finalized 10 CFR Part 53! This is the long awaited risk-informed (rather than prescriptive) reactor licensing pathway

"Under Part 53, [Acting Deputy Office Director for New Reactors] Bowen expects reactor designs to receive approval in 18 months or less."
www.ans.org/news/article...

B61 getting ready for testing

An engineer prepares an inert W80-4 for shaker table testing.

An integrated team of electromagnetic radiation experimentalists and modeling-simulation experts collaborated to assess shielding effectiveness for the Mk21 reentry vehicle, crucial for understanding electromagnetic energy penetration.

An engineer torques the clevis bolt that enables off center axis motion on the W80 MIMO shock and vibration test frame, holding an inert W80-4 unit.

An MRBM with a Hypersonic Target Vehicle front end is air launched from a C-17 aircraft off the coast of the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.

A W80-4 test unit.

W87-0 Firing Set

Nuclear deterrence team members weigh the first B61-13 HiFi unit.

W80-5 unit, developed to arm the SLCM-N (Inert)

A lightning strike is simulated on W80-4 warhead test unit during qualification testing.