Resources

Books, Articles, & Other Research Material Used in Our Episodes:

Episode 1: True Lies

In this episode, we go undercover with the 1994 action spy comedy, True Lies. What does this movie tell us about nuclear terrorism? Can a nuclear warhead really be confused for a snow cone maker? Why wasn’t Tom Arnold at least considered to play the new James Bond? We explore these questions and more.

Before the podcast reached the part of the bridge that was out, we recommended reading:

• Michael Levi, On Nuclear Terrorism (Harvard Press, 2007)
• John Mueller, Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al-Qaeda (Oxford Press, 2012)
• Graham T. Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe (Holt, 2005)

Episode 2: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

In this episode, our mission — we chose to accept — is to talk about the nuclear nonsense in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Can you nuke a city to save a city? Why is there always an “abort the launch” button? Would the Nuclear Football deflate if it is in Siberia? We answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast self-destructed, we recommended reading:

• Bruce Blair, The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War (Brookings, 1993)
• Alexi Arbatov, The Equation of Security (2000)
• Steven J. Zaloga, The Kremlin’s Nuclear Sword: The Rise and Fall of Russia’s Strategic Nuclear Forces 1945-2000 (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2014)

Other sources to check out:

• David E. Hoffman, “The Russian Nuclear Button,” Foreign Policy, May 27, 2010, 
• Mikhail Tsypkin, “Adventures of the ‘Nuclear Briefcase’,” Strategic Insights, Vol. III no. 9, September 2004
• David E. Hoffman, “Cold War Doctrines Refuse to Die,” Washington Post, March 15, 1998

Episode 3: WarGames

In this episode, we play a nice game of chess. After five minutes of that, we put on the 1983 Cold War movie and techno-horror story, WarGames. Can a country “win” a nuclear war? Could a faulty computer actually lead to WWIII? How did ICBM silo missileers keep themselves occupied before there were portable DVD players? We answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast went back to DEFCON 5, we recommended reading:

• Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (Penguin Books, 2014)

Other sources to check out:

• Scott Brown, “WarGames: A Look Back at the Film that Turned Geeks and Phreaks into Stars,” Wired, July 21, 2008
• John Noonan, “In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie,” Wired, January 14, 2011
• Adam Lowther, “A Year Later: Responding to Problems in the ICBM Force,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 12, 2015
• Lou Cannon, “The Reagan Presidency: Every Night at the Movies,” Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1991

Episode 4: Broken Arrow

In this episode, we eject from our aircraft and land on John Woo’s 1996 slow-motion action opera, Broken Arrow. What happens when a disgruntled Air Force pilot decides to steal from his employer? Does an underground nuclear explosion set off an EMP? Is it really that easy for nuclear bombs to fall out of airplanes? We answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast finds the nukes we are looking for, we recommended reading:

• Stephen Younger, The Bomb: A New History (HarperCollins, 2009)
• James Mahaffey, Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters (Pegasus, 2014)

Other sources to check out:

• “Footage of underground nuclear tests,” YouTube
• “USSR Gas Well Blow Out = Nuclear Bomb Puts Out the Fire,” YouTube
• Rob Coppinger, “NASA plans ‘Armageddon’ spacecraft to blast asteroid,” FlightGlobal, August 3, 2007
• William Broad and David Sanger, “As U.S. Modernizes Nuclear Weapons, ‘Smaller’ Leaves Some Uneasy,” The New York Times, January 11, 2016
• Ed Pilkington, “US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina – secret document,” The Guardian UK, September 20, 2013
• William Broad, “Nuclear Option on Gulf Oil Spill? No Way, U.S. Says,” The New York Times, June 2, 2010
• Tom Harris, “The Nuclear EMP Threat,” How Stuff Works 
• “Review of Broken Arrow,” Entertainment Weekly, February 16, 1996

Episode 5: Star Trek (The Original Series) – The City on the Edge of Forever

In this episode, we boldly overanalyzed what no one had deemed necessary to overanalyze before: the nuclear nonsense in the acclaimed Star Trek episode, The City on the Edge of Forever. How close was Nazi Germany to actually building an atomic bomb? Could one person convince America to stay out of WWII? Will Captain James T. Kirk ever catch a break in his love life? With the help of our special guest and Star Trek enthusiast Gabe, we answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast beamed back aboard the Enterprise, we recommended reading:

• Jeremy Bernstein, Hitler’s Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall (Copernicus Books, 2001)
• Mark Walker, German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power (Cambridge University Press, 1989)

Other sources to check out:

• James Tiberius Kirk, “Khaaaaannn!,” Captain’s Log, The Year 2285
• Mark Walker, “Nazi’s and the Bomb,” NOVA, November 8, 2015
• Klaus Wiegrefe, “The Third Reich: How Close Was Hitler to the A-Bomb?” Spiegel, March 14, 2015

Episode 6: Star Trek (The Original Series) – Assignment: Earth

In the second part of our two part Star Trek marathon, we continue to boldly over analyze what no one had deemed necessary to over analyze before: the nuclear nonsense in the fail Star Trek spin-off pilot, Assignment: Earth. Why did countries think it was a good idea to put nuclear weapons in space? What does it look like when a nuke goes off in the vacuum of space? Is it still okay these days to name your cat Isis? With the continued help of our special guest and Star Trek enthusiast Gabe, we answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast attempted a gravitational slingshot maneuver around the sun to travel back in time, we recommended reading:

• Joseph Goldsen, Outer Space in World Politics, (Literary Licensing, 1963) especially chapter by  Thomas Schelling on “The Military Use of Bombardment Satellites”
• Bob Preston, Dana Johnson, Sean Edwards, Michael Miller, and Calvin Shipbaugh, Space Weapons, Earth Wars (RAND, 2002)

Other sources to check out:

• “Space Nuclear Weapon Test,” YouTube
• “Space Nuclear Weapon Detonation EMP Electromagnetic Pulse,” YouTube 
• SciShow Space, “The Unexpected Effects of Nukes in Space,” YouTube
• “Minuteman 1 ICBM Air Launch,” YouTube 
• Jeffrey Lewis, “ICBM Basing Modes,” ArmsControlWonk, June 12, 2012
• Robert Richardson, “Rocket Blitz From the Moon,” Collier’s Weekly, October 28, 1948

Episode 7: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

In this episode, we are still unaware of what the other half of the battle is, but we do know some things about the 2013 action movie, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. How can a villain trick the world into global nuclear disarmament? Does the U.S. military really have plans to steal Pakistan’s nuclear weapons? Does The Rock action figure come with a kung-fu grip? We answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast parachuted out of our exploding helicopter, we recommended reading:

• Richard Garwin’s paper on “Space Weapons: Not Yet” presented at Pugwash Meeting No. 283 on May 14, 2003
• Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder, “The Pentagon’s Secret Plans to Secure Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal,” The National Journal, 2011

Other sources to check out:

• Joe Coscarelli, “The Rock Knew About Osama Bin Laden’s Death Before You,” The Village Voice, May 2, 2011
• Rob Lammie, “Brief History of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero,” Mental Floss, July 4, 2015
• Reel Physics, “GI Joe Retaliation Tungsten Rod Drop,” YouTube, May 21, 2013 
• Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Q&A Podcast, February 20, 2016
• Eric Adams, “Rods from God,” Popular Science, June 1, 2004 
• Colin Johnston, “Rods from God: A Terrifying Space Weapon?,” Astronotes, September 27, 2010
• Bob Preston, Dana Johnson, Sean Edwards, Michael Miller, and Calvin Shipbaugh, Space Weapons, Earth Wars (RAND, 2002)
• “Fallout Poster,” Civil Defense Museum
• War Plan Red

Episode 8: The Peacemaker

In this episode, we leave our boring jobs and become Jason Borne Bureaucrats, because we watch the 1997 action-thriller, The Peacemaker. How easy is it to steal a Russian nuclear warhead? What the heck does SS-18 mean? Is it really a good idea to try and stab a plutonium core and smash it with a gun? We answer these questions and more.

Before our podcast jumped in the pool to wash off our radioactive debris, we recommended reading:

• Leslie and Andrew Cockburn, One Point Safe (Doubleday, 1997)
• John McPhee, The Curve of Binding Energy: A Journey into the Awesome and Alarming World of Theodore B. Taylor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994)
• Jeffrey T. Richelson, Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST, America’s Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad (W.W. Norton & Company, 2009)
• NukeMap!

Other sources to check out:

• Ben Travers, “Is ‘The Peacemaker’ George Clooney’s Calamity? Not Quite,” PopMatters, September 26, 2010
• Janet Maslin, “The Cold War Is Back, Nuclear Bombs and All,” New York Times, September 26, 1997
• Various press clippings on Jessica Stern’s website
• “Secret Government Team Fights to Negate Nuclear Threat,” ABC News, June 11, 2005
• Jeffrety T. Richelson, “U.S. Nuclear Detection and Counterterrorism, 1998-2009,” National Security Archive, January 23, 2009
• Robert Windrem, “Spy Satellites Enter a New Dimension,” NBC News, August 8, 1998
• “R-36M / SS-18 SATAN,” Federation of American Scientists
• Pavel Podvig, “The Window of Vulnerability That Wasn’t,” Russian Forces Blog, June 27, 2008
• Raphael Minder, “Even Without Detonation, 4 Hydrogen Bombs From ’66 Scar Spanish Village,” New York Times, June 20, 2016

Episode 9: Fail-Safe

In this episode, we maxed out our conference call lines while debating the 1964 drama-thriller movie, Fail-Safe. What happens when you can’t recall your own nuclear bombers en route to Moscow? How many air planes can you knock out of the sky with a nuclear bomb? How do you convince your enemy that accidents — even nuclear ones — do happen? The podcast hosts and special guest/TCM guru Victoria answer these questions and more.

Before the podcast’s phone line melts in a fireball, we recommended reading:

• L. Douglas Keeney, 15 Minutes: General Curtis Lemay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012)

Other sources to check out :

• William Burr, “The Air Force versus Hollywood,” National Security Archive, January 15, 2010
• Christopher Bright, “Cold War Air Defense Relied on Widespread Dispersal of Nuclear Weapons, Documents Show,” National Security Archive, November 16, 2010,
• Photos of SAC HQ: Underground Command Post I, Underground Command Post II, and  Headquarters
• Steve Weintz, “Dreaming of Genie, America’s Anti-Aircraft Nuke,” War is Boring, March 2, 2014
• Bob Raichle, “Alaska’s Cold War Nuclear Shield,” Nike Historical Society, 2012
• Richard Oulahan, “Doomsday is Better as a Farce,” LIFE, October 30, 1964
• Ari Schulman, “Doomsday Machines: Fail-Safe was Flop, but Much Smarter about Nuclear War than Dr. Strangelove,” Slate, October 7, 2014
• Sharon Ghamari, “Review of Technical Accuracy in Fail-Safe,” Strategy Page
• “Revisiting Fail-Safe,” Fail-Safe Special Edition DVD, YouTube 
• B-58 Hustler, Federation of American Scientists, May 29, 1997
• Wm. Robert Johnston, MULTIMEGATON WEAPONS: The Largest Nuclear Weapons, Johston’s Archive, April 6, 2009
• Stiletto, Transformers Wiki

Episode 10: Nuclear War Card Game

In this episode, we flipped over the Monopoly board to make room to play the dark comedy Nuclear War Card Game from 1965. Does having a background in nuclear policy help win a card game about nuclear war? Will the horrors and intensity of nuclear weapons translate to a card game? Can three loving couples survive three hours of pretending to nuke each other? Tim and his elite team of board game competitors answer these questions and more

Before we decided this game was too dark and switched to playing Candy Land, we recommend checking out the sources below about the unique and fun history of the Nuclear War Card Game:.

• Photos of the game and the cards at “Nuclear War,” Flying Buffalo
• “Nuclear War Card Game,” BoardGameGeek.com
• Dennis McLellan, “Nuclear War Game Bombs Its Way to Success: Fantasy Card Competition Breeds Some Fallout From the Controversial Topic,” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1986
• Lana Polansky, “Nuclear War: A Game of Chance,” Paste, October 14, 2014
•  Matt Keeley, “‘Nuclear War’ Turns 50: A Fun Game About Human Extinction,” UnicornBooty, October 26, 2015
• “MPs Seek Ban on Nuclear War Board Game Described as ‘Disgusting and Offensive,’” Ottawa Citizen, March 3, 1984
• “Nuclear War,” Wikipedia

Episode 11: Independence Day

In this episode, we took advantage of the new world-wide federal holiday to watch the sci-fi action blockbuster Independence Day (the good one from 1996). How effective are nuclear weapons against 15 mile wide spaceships? Are aliens keeping tabs on Earth’s nuclear stockpiles? How did Jeff Goldblum write a computer virus that works on alien technology? Tim and Joel answer these questions and more.

Before Elvis left the building, we recommend reading and checking out these resources:

• Michael Rogin, Independence Day, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Enola Gay, (British Film Institute, 1998) 
• James Harris, “The Oral History of the President’s Speech in ‘Independence Day,’” Complex Media, June 23, 2016, 
• Kim Zetter, Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon (Crown publishers, 2014)
• Robert Kennedy, “A Rocket Scientist’s Reaction to Independence Day,” The Ultimax Group White Paper, 1996 
• Kelly Fonda, “You Want to Blow Up the White House?”: An Oral History of the Film Independence Day,” We Minored in Film, April 28, 2015, 
• Janet Burns, “16 Earth-Shattering Facts About ‘Independence Day,’” MentalFloss, July 3, 2016
• Joe Skrebels, “Independence Day Director Roland Emmerich Mocks Marvel Movies,” IGN, June 28, 2016
• ID4 Deleted Scenes, YouTube
• U.S. Air Force Capt. Robert Salas – UFO’s Are Real
• Eric Julien, The Iron Skeptic
• Kim Zetter, “An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World’s First Digital Weapon,” Wired, November 3, 2014
• Andrew Futter , “Hacking the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons in the Cyber Age,” Draft working paper for ISA Annual Conference, February 2015
• Andrew Futter, “The Dangers of Using Cyberattacks to Counter Nuclear Threats,” Arms Control Today, July/August 2016
• “‘Independence Day’ Producer Finally Explains Infamously Inept Hacking Scene,” Yahoo Movies, December 8, 2014
• Simon Brew, “Independence Day: Dean Devlin explains alien ‘virus’ plot device,” Den of Geek, December 8, 2014
• Jakob Nielson, “Excessive Interoperability in Independence Day,” NN Group, December 18, 2006
• Ross Anderson, “Watching Nuclear War From Across the Galaxy,” The Atlantic, September 8, 2015
• Russ Wellen, “Alienating Aliens: Do Nukes Make Them Go Ballistic?,” HuffingtonPost, May 25, 2011
• Atomic Bomb Test – Survival Towns
• Teapot Apple 2 Nuclear Test

Episode 12: The Terminator Movies

In this episode, we prepared for Judgment Day by watching all of the Terminator movies (1984-2015/forever). How did the franchise end up with some of the most iconic imagery of nuclear weapon use? Should we be worried about artificial intelligence taking over our nuclear command and control systems? Why does Skynet seem to put out more models of terminator than Apple does iPhones? Tim, Joel, and special guest Alex answer these questions and more.

Before we say “hasta la vista… baby,” we recommend reading:

• Jerome Shapiro, Atomic Bomb Cinema, 2001
• Bruce Blair, Strategic Command and Control, 1985 and The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War, 1993
• Joe McGovern, “‘The Terminator’ at 30: An Oral History,” Entertainment Weekly, July 17, 2014

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• “Terminated: ‘Skynet’ nuclear apocalypse scenario may come true, warns Russia’s top arms official,” Russia Today, October 28, 2016
• Kim Zetter, “So, the NSA has an Actual Skynet Program,” Wired, May 28, 2015
• Ted Gup, “The Ultimate Congressional Hideaway,” Washington Post, May 31, 1992
• Ian Failes, “Making a Nuclear Apocalypse: How the Iconic Sequence in ‘Terminator 2’ Was Created,” Cartoon Brew, July 3, 2016
• “Terminator 2 – How the Nuclear Holocaust Scene was Made – Miniature Props,” YouTube
• “Nuclear Apocalypse Scene – T2,” YouTube
• Nick Venable, “Terminator 2 Effects Tests: Go Behind the Scenes of the Nuclear War,” Giant Freakin Robot, February 4, 2013
• “Quint Chats: Terminator: Salvation with McG!,” Ain’t It Cool News, August 4, 2008
• “Terminator Genisys – The Nuclear Bomb Scenes,” YouTube

Episode 13: Star Wars

In this episode, we built a Death Star and made Alderaan pay for it! While waiting for the check to clear, we overanalyzed the Death Star as a stand-in for nuclear weapons throughout the Star Wars movies but especially in Rogue One (2016). How much did the franchise borrow nuclear weapon imagery? What similarities are there in the strategies for using either nuclear weapons or Death Stars? Will the Empire ever consider investing its resources more into galactic poverty reduction and less into overly vulnerable battle stations? Tim and Joel answer these questions and more.

Before we went rogue, we recommend reading:

• Tim Westmyer, “Death Star: Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 4, 2017
• Cass Sunstein, The World According to Star Wars (2016)
• Chris Taylor, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe (2015)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Imagery of Death Star in Rogue One, YouTube
• Star Wars Explained, “101 Facts about the Death Star,” YouTube
• Star Wars HQ, “What It Would Be Like to Live on the Death Star?,” YouTube
• Cory Doctorow, “Rogue One: An “Engineering Ethics” Case-Study Disguised as a Star Wars Movie,” BoingBoing, December 19, 2016
• George Hadley-Garcia, “‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Takes Some Cues from a Galaxy Not So Far Away,” Japan Times, December 15, 2016
• Sarah Bond, “Designing The Death Star: ‘Rogue One’ And The History Of Weapons Engineers,” Forbes, December 19, 2016
• Andrew Blair, “Star Wars: Why Does the Empire Keep Building Death Stars?,” Den of Geek, December 12, 2016
• Rachel Weiner, “White House Rejects ‘Death Star’ Petition,” Washington Post, January 13, 2013
• Zachary Feinstein, “It’s a Trap: Emperor Palpatine’s Poison Pill,” December 1, 2015

Episode 14: Twilight Zone – The Shelter

In this episode, we sought shelter in the Twilight Zone and watched the 1962 episode, “The Shelter.” What was the deal with everyone building fallout shelters in the 1960s? Would you share a cozy shelter with friends and neighbors who neglected to build one? What should you prioritize in your shelter: food, water, medicine, a surround sound system, or a Jacuzzi? Tim and Joel answer these questions and more.

Before we double lock our fallout shelter door, we recommend:

• Nukes of Hazard (great nukes podcast!)
• “Bart’s Comet,” The Simpsons (February 5, 1995)
• Twilight Zone Podcast

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• “Rod Serling Interview with Bob Crane about The Shelter,” YouTube
• Melvin Matthews, Jr., Duck and Cover: Civil Defense Images in Film and Television from the Cold War to 9/11 (McFarland, October 2011)
• Stephen I. Schwartz (editor), Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, (Brookings, 1998)
• Kenneth Rose, One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture (NYU Press, 2004) 
• Margaret Mead, “Are Shelters the Answer?” New York Times Magazine, November 26, 1961
• The Gaither Report, November 7, 1957, National Security Archive

Episode 15: Threads

In this episode, we tuned our TV dial to watch the 1983 TV movie, Special Bulletin. How would local broadcast news cover a nuclear terrorism incident? How would the federal government and the news media handle this crisis? WWWBD (What Would Wolf Blitzer Do)? Tim and Joel answer these questions and more.

Before we the news anchors switched to local sports and the weather, we recommend:

• Countdown to Looking Glass, TV movie,1984
• Peter Kuran, How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb (VCE, 2006)
• One Day in September, documentary, 1999

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• NUKEMAP, The Bomb in Special Bulletin
• Tom Shales, “Bulletin! The Show that Shook NBC,” The Washington Post, March 20, 1983
• William Stracener, “The Repeat Showing of the Television Movie ‘Special Bulletin,’” UPI, April 30, 1984
• Tijani El-Miskin, “Special Bulletin: Transfictional Disavowal,” Jump Cut no. 34 (March 1989)
• Sally Bedell, “Movie about Terrorists’ Use of News,” The New York Times, January 29, 1983
• Grant Nebel, “The Language of Events: SPECIAL BULLETIN,” The Solute, May 21, 2015
• “Special Bulletin Wins Outstanding Miniseries or Movie,” Emmys Archive, 1983
• Brian Hicks, “Charleston is the (target of a) Bomb – Yet Again,” The Post and Courier, October 15, 2013
• Stratton Lawrence, “What if Charleston had been Ground Zero for a Nuclear Attack,” Charleston City Paper, December 25, 2013
• National Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy, Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
• Eric Schlosser, “Break-in at Y-12,” The New Yorker, March 9, 2015
• Hanford Site, Wikipedia
• “Economic Impact of ‘Dirty Bomb’ Researched,” UPI, April 23, 2012
• Tom James, “Hanford Nuclear Site Accident Puts Focus on Aging U.S. Facilities,” Reuters, May 12, 2017
• “Where the Bombs Are, 1997,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1997
• “Where the Bombs Are, 1992,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1992
• “Where the Bombs Are, 2016,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2006
• Francis P. Hoeber, “Civil Emergency Preparedness if Deterrence Fails,” Comparative Strategy 1 no. 3 (1979)

Episode 16: Threads

In this extra long episode, we ruined all our sweaters by pulling at the 1984 TV movie, Threads. What would nuclear war look like to average people in a medium sized city in the United Kingdom? How did the British plan to survive a nuclear attack? How do you mind the gap when the gap is a 100-meter crater at a radioactive ground zero? Tim and his special guest co-host Tim Collins answer these questions and more.

Before the news anchors switched to local sports and the weather, we recommend:

• When the Wind Blows, 1986
• The books of Jonathan Schell, including Fate of the Earth, The Abolition, and The Gift of Time
• Nate Jones, Able Archer 83 : The Secret History of the NATO Exercise That Almost Triggered Nuclear War, 2016
• Peter Hennessey, The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst 1945-2001, 2010
• The Letter of Last Resort, BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama
• Panorama: If the Bomb Drops, BBC

Thanks again to Tim Collins for being a guest on the podcast. He is a Ph.D. candidate at King’s College London studying early British nuclear history and you can follow him on Twitter @WarAndCake.

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• The War Game, 1965
• Protect and Survive, YouTube
• Matthew Gault, “‘Threads’ is One of the Most Horrifying Films I’ve Ever Seen,” War is Boring, May 5, 2015
• Andy Gregory, “Threads: How a ‘Shoestring’ Depiction of Nuclear War Terrified Britain,” iNews, May 19, 2017
• Sanchia Berg, “The Nuclear Attack on the UK that Never Happened,” BBC News, October 30, 2014
• “When Sheffield Saw a Nuclear Holocaust,” The Yorkshire Post, September 14, 2014
• Tom Overton, “Worst-Case Scenario,” The Paris Review, April 10, 2017
• “End of the World Revisisted: BBC’s Threads is 25 Years Old,” The Scotsman, September 5, 2009
• Peter Bradshaw, “One Way to Avert Nuclear War — Show Trump the Horror, as Told by the BBC,” The Guardian – UK, April 19, 2017
• Openshaw, et. al, Doomsday: Britain After Nuclear Attack, December 1983
• Duncan Campbell, War Plan UK, 1983
• “Threads in Pictures,” BBC

Episode 17: The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss

In this episode, we went to the children’s section of the library to read The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss. Does this 1984 book have anything to tell us about the dangers of the Cold War arms race? What is the right age to start talking to your kids about nuclear war? Why wasn’t there a Goosebumps book about nuclear winter? Tim, his sister Diana, and his 7-year old nephew Jairus answer these questions and more.

Before we fly/hop away in our Utterly Sputter, we recommend checking out:

• Ellen Goodman, “Dr. Seuss and the Bomb,” New York Times, April 24, 1984
• “The Butter Battle Book,” Turner Network Television, YouTube, 1989
• Dr. Seuss, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” 1990
• Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, “Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb,” 2012
• Patricia Brennan Demuth, “What Was D-Day,” 2015

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Roger Sutton, “Yooks, Zooks and the Bomb,” The New York Times, February 22, 1987
• Gloria Goodall, “From Dr. Seuss, an Arms Race Allegory, about Yooks and Zooks,” The Christian Science Monitor, 1984

Episode 18: Star Trek First Contact

In this episode, we decide to break the ice and watch the Star Trek movie First Contact. Is global thermonuclear war a necessary prerequisite for realizing the utopian vision of Star Trek? How did a Titan II ICBM help humanity go where no man has gone before? Why did Zefram Cochrane get a statue before Lily Sloane? Tim, Gabe, and special guest Manu Saadia (author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek) answer these questions and more.

Before we get noticed by some Vulcans, we recommend checking out:

• F. White, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, 1998
• Disaster at Silo 7, TV Movie,1988
• Command and Control, Documentary, 2016
• Manu Saadia, Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek, May 2016
• Peter Brannen, The Ends of the World: : Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions, June 2017
• The Next Generation, “The Best of Both Worlds,” Season 3, Episode 26, June 1990

Episode 19: Fallout

In this episode, we wandered into the wasteland and played the Fallout video game series. What does this particularly popular post-apocalypse tell us about life after nuclear war? Is the video game series realistic in how it portrays nuclear devastation? How much can you mix together comedy and utter bleakness before you go a little insane? Tim and special guest Lucy Steigerwald answer these questions and more.

Follow Lucy on Twitter at @LucyStag and her Apocalypse Project at www.TheStagBlog.com.

Before our Rad count gets too high, we recommend checking out:

• Metro 2033, video game series
• Lovely Umayam, “Why the Excitement Over Post-Nuclear-War Game Fallout 4?” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 4, 2015
• Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, “Final Report and Executive Summary,” 1995
• Eileen Welsome, The Plutonium Files: America’s Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War, 1999
• Walter M. Miller Jr, A Canticle for Liebowitz, 1960
• Neil Shute, On The Beach, 1957
• Robert McCammon, Swan Song, 1987
• Jericho, CBS, TV Show

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Steven Messner, “Just How Realistic is Fallout 4’s Post-Apocalypse Anyway?,” –Motherboard, December 28, 2015
• “Symposium on Human Problems in The Utilization of Fallout Shelters,” Disaster Research Group, 1960
• Documentary: Radium City, YouTube
• “Human Radiation Experiments Report,” CSPAN, October 1995
• Gloria Goodale, “Nuclear Radiation in Pop Culture: More Giant Lizards than Real Science,” Christian Science Monitor, March 30, 2011
• Ed Grabianoski, “Ex-Rad, The Drug that Takes All of Your Radiation Worries Away,” iO9, December 10, 2012
• Ron Welch, “Radiation as a Gameplay Mechanic,” The Rad-Lands, November 18, 2016
• Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide

Episode 20: Octopussy

In this episode, we paid our respects to the late Roger Moore and all the times he stopped a nuclear war by watching the movie Octopussy. Could a rogue Soviet commander trick Europe into disarming its own nuclear weapons? Why did the United States have so many nukes in Europe? How easy is it for James Bond to disarm a nuke while wearing clown makeup? Tim, Gabe, and returning special guest Alex answer these questions and more.

Thanks to our listeners for dealing with the November 2017 hiatus of episodes while Tim moved into a new place and barely survived holiday family visits.

Before our M gives us another mission, we recommend checking out: 

• James Bonding Podcast, Earwolf
• Amy Woolf, “Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons,” Congressional Research Service Report, February 21, 2017
• License to Kill (1989)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• James Bond disarming the bomb, Octopussy
• Awesome Soviet conference table, Octopussy
• Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris, “Worldwide Deployments of Nuclear Weapons,” 2014, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 1, 2014
• Michaela Dodge, “U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe: Critical for Transatlantic Security,” Heritage Foundation, February 18, 2014
• William Arkin, “America’s Nuclear Weapons in Europe Are the Nuclear Elephant in the Room,” Vice News, March 31, 2016
• Nader Elhefnawny, James Bond’s Evolution: From Casino Royale to Spectre, 2015
• David Williams, “Why Octopussy is the Best (and Possibly Worst) James Bond Film,” GQ, February 2015
• Lukas Hechenblaickner, Alexander Walter, Verena Kastenhuber and Michael Hoffman, “The Nuclear Menace in James Bond Movies,” Atoms for Europe Blog

Episode 21: Ladybug Ladybug

In this episode, we compared the Hawaii ballistic missile threat false alarm in real life and the 1963 film, Ladybug Ladybug. What does an elementary school do when the nuclear attack warning bell goes off? How did Americans respond to similar false alarms during the Cold War? What happens when it is North Korea’s turn to experience an IT problem? Tim Westmyer and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we start our long walk home — uphill both ways — after school, we recommend checking out:

• Episode #14: Twilight Zone – The Shelter, Super Critical Podcast
• Alice L. George, Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis (2004)
• Force Majeure, 2014 movie
• “Bart’s Comet,” The Simpsons, Season 6, Episode 14 (February 5, 1995)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Alex Wellerstein, “The Hawaii Alert Was an Accident. The Dread it Inspired Wasn’t,” The Washington Post, January 16, 2018
• Lauren Borja and M.V. Ramana, “A Reminder from Hawaii,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 17, 2018
• Allison Wallis, “Being a Mother in Hawaii during 38 Minutes of Nuclear Fear,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2018
• Todd C. Frankel and Amy B Wang, “As Panic Subsides, Trump Officials Call Hawaii Missile Scare a State Issue,” The Washington Post, January 14, 2018
• Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, “Days After Hawaii’s False Missile Alarm, a New One in Japan,” New York Times, January 16, 2018
• Jolyn Rosa, “Hawaii Says Lack of Adequate Fail-Safe Measures Led to False Missile Alert,” Reuters, January 14, 2018
• “Chilling Moments in the Cold War,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2006
• “Civil Defence Attack Warning System Now Available Here,” The Shawinigan Standard, November 19, 1952
• Bosley Crowther, “Screen: Reacting to Alert: ‘Ladybug, Ladybug,’ by the Perrys, Opens,” New York Times, December 24, 1963
• Ladybug Ladybug Rhyme, Rhymes.org.uk
• Clint Worthington, “Rare & Vintage: Ladybug Ladybug (1963),” Alcohollywood, April 3, 2013

Episode 22: The Man in the High Castle

In this episode, we stormed The Man in the High Castle television show to explore nukes in a world where Germany and Japan won World War II. What difference would a Nazi nuclear bomb have made in the war? How would Japan go about getting their own nuclear weapon in secret? Who is Joe Blake and why should we care? Tim Westmyer and special guest Tim Collins answer these questions and more. Follow Tim Collins, PhD candidate studying British nuclear history, on Twitter @WarAndCake.

Before we meditate our way through the multiverse, we recommended checking out:

• Superman: Red Son (2003)
• Wolfenstein video game series (especially the reboots)
• Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (1981)
• Transcript of Surreptitiously Taped Conversations among German Nuclear Physicists at Farm Hall (August 6-7, 1945)
• That Mitchell and Webb Look, “Are We the Baddies?”

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Dr. Zoomie, “Does Weapons Grade Uranium Pose Health Risk When Handled?” Nevada Technical Associates, April 21, 2017
• Heisenberg Device
• Ariana Rowberry, “Castle Bravo: The Largest U.S. Nuclear Explosion,” Brookings Institution, February 27, 2014
• German Atomic Bomb Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation, October 18, 2016
• Japanese Atomic Bomb Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation, May 25, 2016

Episode 23: Watchmen

In this episode, who watches the Watchmen? Spoiler alert: we did and got super critical about the nuclear war plots of the Watchmen comics and movie. What will keep us from moving the Doomsday Clock to midnight? How would the Cold War play out if Nixon had a walking nuclear superhero? Does Dr. Manhattan make house calls? Tim Westmyer and special guest Luis Navarro answer these questions and more.

Before we meditate our way through the multiverse, we recommended checking out:

• Doomsday Clock Timeline, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• Richard Bensam (editor), Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen (2011)
• H. Bruce Franklin (editor), Countdown to Midnight: Twelve Memorial Stories about Nuclear Warfare (1984)
• Atomic Café, documentary, 1982
• Command and Control, documentary, 2016
• Zero Days, documentary, 2016

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Lawrence Krauss and Robert Rosner, “We’re as Close to Doomsday Today as We Were During the Cold War,” Washington Post, January 25, 2018
• Oliver Roeder, “The Doomsday Clock Would Like You to Be Concerned,” FiveThirtyEight, January 26, 2018
• “Peace Points: Two Minutes to Midnight,” SIPRI January 29, 2018
• Jonathan Schofer, “Ethics and Vulnerability in Watchmen,” Harvard Divinity Bulletin 37 no. 2 (Spring/Summer 2009)
• Melissa Lafsky, “Watchmen: Nuclear Holocaust Ain’t What It Used to Be,” Discover Magazine, March 9, 2009
• Stokes, “The Political Message of Watchmen,” OverThinkingIt.org, March 7, 2009
• Aaron Couch, “Real-Life Doomsday Clock is Closer to Midnight Than in ‘Watchmen,'” Hollywood Reporter, January 27, 2017
• Andrew Hoberek, Considering Watchmen: Poetics, Property, Politics (2017)

Episode 24: Nuke Cage Podcast

In this April 1 edition of the Nuke Cage Podcast, we rage about the multitude of movies where Nic Cage takes on nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons in a post-Cold War security environment. How accurate are the movies Face/Off, The Rock, Next, and Lord of War? Why has Nic Cage done so many of these films? Can we make Nic Cage an honorary NEST member already? Tim Westmyer and Tristan Volpe answer these questions and more. Follow the podcast @NukeCage and Tristan @TeeAndersVolpe.

Before we go looking for some VX rockets, we recommended checking out:

• W. Seth Carus, Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900, August 1998
• Jonathan Tucker, War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (2007)
• In Time, movie, 2011
• Gregory Koblentz, Living Weapons: Biological Warfare and International Security (2011)
• Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley, Barriers to Bioweapons: The Challenges of Expertise and Organization for Weapons Development (2014)
• W. Set Carus, Defining “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Occasional Paper 8, January 2012

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Elijah Wolfson (et. al.), “We Watched “Face/Off” 20 Years After its Release to See How the Science Holds Up,” Quartz, July 1, 2017
• Debora MacKenzie, “Was Kim Jong-nam Killed by VX Nerve Gas? Doesn’t Look Like It,” New Scientist, February 24, 2017
• Mari Yamaguchi, “Japanese Cult Also Used VX; Survivor Recounts How it Felt,” Associated Press, February 24, 2017
• Mark Tokola, “The Death of Kim Jong-nam: Implausible Deniability,” KEIA, February 27, 2017
• Patrick Di Justo, “How to Destroy a Stockpile of Chemical Weapons,” The New Yorker, November 13, 2013
• Catherine Shoard, “‘It Was Such Obvious Bullshit’: The Rock Writer Shocked Film May Have Inspired False WMD Intelligence,” The Guardian UK, July 8, 2016

Episode 25: Blue Sky & Nuclear Test Site Visit

In this episode, we did some atomic tourism, first to the Nuclear Test Site and then on the emotional journey that is the 1994 melodrama, Blue Sky. How does a mild mannered nuclear test site scientist navigate radioactive cover-ups and family crises? What was it like visiting the former nuclear test site in Nevada? How do you convince your friends it would be more fun to record a podcast in a hotel room than to wander the Las Vegas Strip? Tim Westmyer and special guest Clark answer these questions and more.

Before we meditate our way through the multiverse, we recommended checking out:

• Radio Bikini, Documentary (1998)
• Michael Harris, The Atomic Times: My H-Bomb Year at the Pacific Proving Ground (2010)
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
• Raphael Honigenstein, Das Reboot: How German Soccer Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World (2015)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• “18 December 1970 – The Baneberry Incident,” CTBTO
• Toni A. Perrine, “Film and the Nuclear Age: Representing Cultural Anxiety,” 1988
• “Blue Sky,” Letterboxd.com, June 21, 2012
• “‘Blue Sky’: Richardson’s Dramatic Farewell,” Seattle Times, September 16, 1994
• William Burr, “Venting and Complaining,” Foreign Policy, August 6, 2013
• William Burr, “The Limited Test Ban Treaty – 50 Years Later,” National Security Archive, August 2, 2013
• Dan Zak, “A Ground Zero Forgotten,” Washington Post, November 27, 2015
• “Containing Underground Nuclear Explosions,” U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, October 1989

Episode 26: The Hunt for Red October

In this episode, we did a deep dive on the nuclear plot of The Hunt for Red October (1990). Is bigger necessarily better for the Red October? Just how bad would it be if the United States could no longer tracker Russian submarines? How easy is it for a cook to hotwire a submarine launched ballistic missile? Tim Westmyer and special guest Boris take a break from their vacation in Las Vegas to answer these questions and more.

Before we listened for the pings of a slot machine (hopefully more than just a single ping), we recommend checking out:

• Douglas Waller, Big Red: Three Months On Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine, 2001
• Pavel Podvig, Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, 2004
• Run Silent, Run Deep, (1958 movie)
• Russian Naval Blog, “Even The Russians Know They Suck, Part I,” February 7, 2010
• Tom Clancy, The Bear and the Dragon, 2000

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• J.D. Simkins, “The Underwater Superstar of ‘Hunt for Red October’ for Retired,” Navy Times, December 8, 2017
• John Anthony Walker
• “A Submariner Watches ‘Hunt for Red October,'” RPG.net, 2016
• Soviet Frigate Storozhevoy
• John Prados, “The John Walker Spy Ring and the U.S. Navy’s Biggest Betrayal,” USNI News, September 2, 2014
• Naval Technology, “Cat and Mouse: The Art of Submarine Detection,” June 13, 2011
• Eric D. Snyder, “10 Deep Facts about The Hunt for Red October,” Mental Floss, June 12, 2015
• David Haglund, “How the Hunt for Red October Movie Revealed Classified Information about U.S. Submarines, ” Slate, October 2, 2013
• Nikola Budanovic, “The Truth Behind the Movie: The Hunt for Red October,” War History Online, September 16, 2016
• Rick Campbell, “Diving into Submarine Movies: How Realistic are They?,” Criminal Element, February 19, 2015

Episode 27: Atomic Train

In this episode, we took the midnight train going anywhere… far away from the bad TV mini-series, Atomic Train (1999). Could a dangerous Russian nuke end up on a runaway U.S. train? What would a major city like Denver do to evacuate after a nuclear detonation? How can a movie with a runaway train, nukes, hazardous chemicals, Rob Lowe, and 50+ helicopters be so boring? Tim Westmyer, Gabe, and special guest Elliot answer these questions and more.

Before the atomic train conductor yelled “all aboard,” we recommend checking out:

• Threads (1984 TV movie) and Special Bulletin (1983 TV movie)
• The Stand (1994 TV mini-series)
• Michael Krepon, “Moving from MAD to Cooperative Threat Reduction,” Stimson Center, December 2001
• Unstoppable (2010 movie)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• S. Interagency Report, “Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation,” June 2010
• Lawrie Mifflin, “NBC Edits ‘Nuclear Waste’ From Program,” New York Times, May 14, 1999
• Lynn Elber, “NBC Changes Cargo in ‘Atomic Train’ Miniseries,” Desert News, May 12, 1999
• Caryn James, “A Train Hurtling into Real-Life Issues,” New York Times, May 14, 1999
• Joanne Ostrow, “When this Hits Local TV, the City’s Gonna Panic,” Denver Post, April 30, 1999
• “Zirconium: Covering for Fuel Rods,” New York Times, 1995,
• “NBC’s ‘Atomic Train’ Explodes Myth of Safe Nuclear Waste Transport,” Nuclear Information and Resources Service, May 6, 1999
• Ray Richmond, “Atomic Train,” Variety, May 12, 1999

Episode 28: Atomic Alcohol

In this episode, we stepped up to the bar and ordered a couple rounds of Atomic Alcohol. The podcast collected ten examples of nuclear themed wine, cocktails, and beer with names, history, or other interesting connections to nukes. Why do breweries and wineries go to the nuclear well so many times? Could a beverage change how you think about the atom? How many drinks can the podcast team have and still sound reasonably intelligent? Tim Westmyer (@Westmyer), Gabe, and special guests Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) and Eric Gascho (@EricGascho) answer these questions and more.

Before the bartender announces last call for atomic alcohol, we recommend checking out:

• Alex Wellerstein, “Beer and the Apocalypse,” Restricted Data, 2012
• Frank Kelly Rich, “Boozing with the Bomb: Alcohol in the Atomic Age,” Drunkard Magazine
• Charlie Papazian, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Atomic Ale Brewpub and Eatery (Richland, WA)
• Forbidden Root (Chicago, IL)
• Robert Krulwich, “S. Explodes Atomic Bombs Near Beers to See if They are Safe to Drink,” NPR, September 19, 2012
• Eric Pfanner, “A French Wine Region Changes its Name to Save its Future,” The New York Times, November 25, 2011
• Jane Nickles, “The Wine Formerly Known as Tricastin,” Wine, Wit, and Wisdom, July 19, 2013
• Theodore Gray, “For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation!” Popular Science, August 17, 2004
• Alex Wellerstein, “Bomb Appetit!” Lucky Peach
• Beers Not Bombs Keychain, From War to Peace
• NPR, “How Atomic Particles Helped Solve a Wine Fraud Mystery,” June 3, 2014
• LiveScience, “Buzzkill: Steer Clear of Beer After a Nuclear Explosion,” September 24, 2012
• Emily Bell, “Nuclear Beer: When the Bomb Comes, Head to the Bar,” Vinepair, June 24, 2016
• Ian Sample, “How Atom Bomb Tests Could Help Detect Wine Fraud,” The Guardian, March 21, 2010
• Alex Swerdloff, “This Atomic Bomb-Themed Beer Has a Message About Nuclear Warfare,” Muchies, August 3, 2015

Episode 29: Madam Secretary

In this episode, we took a break from studying our nuclear attack plans binder to watch an episode from the TV show Madam Secretary called Night Watch (Season 4, Episode 22). What happens when the President gets the call that nuclear missiles are incoming to the United States? What systems are in place to prevent mistakes and accidents from signaling false reports? Why don’t they rename the Presidential Emergency Satchel to the Nuclear Skeeball? Tim Westmyer and special guest Jamie Withorne (@JamieWithorne) answer these questions and more.

Before we receive our text message notifying us about our all expenses paid trip to Mount Weather, we recommend checking out:

• Women of Mass Destruction at https://www.womenofmassdestruction.org/
• Fail-Safe (1964), Ladybug Ladybug (1963), WarGames (1983)
• Matt Stevens and Christopher Mele, “Causes of False Missile Alerts: The Sun, the Moon, and a 46-cent Chip,” New York Times, January 13, 2018
• Terry L. Deibel, “The Death of a Treaty,” Foreign Affairs 81 no. 5, September/October 2002
• The Man Who Saved the World (2018)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• “Madam Secretary Season 4 Finale – From Script to Screen,” YouTube
• Matt Novak, “The Computer Simulation that Almost Started World War III,” Gizmodo, February 16, 2015
• Matt Stevens and Christopher Mele, “Causes of False Missile Alerts: The Sun, the Moon and a 46-Cent Chip,” The New York Times, January 13, 2018
• USC Hollywood, Health, and Society, “Madam Secretary and Nuclear Risks,” May 22, 2018
• Lleane Rudolph, “‘Madam Secretary’ EPs Explain the Political Show’s Explosive Season Finale,” TV Insider, May 20, 2018
• Nuclear Threat Initiative, “Did you Catch the Madam Secretary Season Finale? How About the Reddit AMA with Ernie Moniz? Riveting, Both,” May 31, 2018

Episode 30: Nukes vs. Asteroids

In this episode, we place bets on the biggest fight in the cinematic universe: nuclear weapons vs. asteroids. What do the movies Armageddon, Deep Impact, and Meteor tell us about how planet Earth will defend itself against space rocks? How effective would nukes in these doomsday scenarios? How can we thank the dinosaurs for becoming oil so that the drill team in Armageddon learned the skills necessary to save us from another asteroid extinction event? Tim Westmyer and returning special guest Boris (@bmelnikov) answer these questions and more.

Before we decide to violate the Outer Space Treaty, we recommend checking out:

• “Chicxulub crater,” Wikipedia
• Vladimir Rubtsov, “The Tunguska Mystery,” 2009
• “Space Weapons Earth Wars,” Rand Corporation, 2002
• Force Majeure (2014 movie)
• Meteor Man (1993 movie)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Tanya Lewis, “Asteroid Science: How ‘Armageddon’ Got it Wrong,” Live Science, September 16, 2014
• Mike Wall, “How a Nuclear Bomb Could Save Earth From an Asteroid,” Space, March 12, 2012
• Mark Strauss, “Helpful Tips for Nuking an Asteroid,” National Geographic, August 3, 2015
• Ellie Zolfagharifard, “NASA Prepares for Real-Life Armageddon: Agency Could Launch Nuclear Bombs into Space to Defend Earth from Asteroids,” Daily Mail UK, June 22, 2015
• “Even Bruce Willis Couldn’t Save Earth from ‘Armageddon’ Asteroid,” com, August 17, 2012
• Phil Plait, “‘Armageddon’ had bad Science. Shocker, I know,” Discover Magazine, September 7, 2012
• David S.F. Portree, “MIT Saves the World: Project Icarus (1967),” Wired, March 29, 2012
• “Project Icarus,” MIT Student Project in Systems Engineering, 1968

Episode 31: Mission: Impossible – Fallout

In this episode, we worked out our plutonium cores while watching the movie Mission: Impossible –Fallout. How easy is it for a rogue scientist – Norwegian or otherwise – to build a nuclear bomb if they got access to a plutonium core? Why do apocalyptic terrorist organizations seek nuclear weapons? When does Wolf Blitzer find time to report the news between all his movie shoots? Tim Westmyer, Gabe, and special guest James Finnegan answer these questions and more.

Before we nuke more insects to see what happens, we recommend checking out:

• Ronin (1998 movie)
• Fatman and Littleboy (1989 movie)
• Matthew Gault, “Mission Impossible Fallout Missed its Chance to Tell a Good Story,” The National Interest, July 30, 2018
• C’était un Rendezvous (1976 movie)
• Mythbusters, Episode 160 about Mission: Impossible Masks

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Demetri Ravanos, “Mission Impossible – Fallout: The Amazing Race with Nuclear Weapons,” com, July 26, 2018
• Jen Chaney, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the Perfect Movie for Our Summer of Unreality,” Vulture, July 27, 2018
• Remus Pravalie, “Nuclear Weapon Tests and Environment Consequences: A Global Perspective,” Ambio 43 no. 6, October 2014
• Natalie Wolchover, “How Much Radiation-Contaminated Water Will Kill You?” Live Science, March 28, 2011
• Alex Hutchinson, “Is Radioactive Water Worth Worrying About?” The New Yorker, April 30, 2015
• Larry Greenemeier, “Half-Life and Death: Radioactive Drinking Water Scare in Japan Subsides, but Questions Remain,” Scientific American, April 1, 2011
• Sebastian Anthony, “The Demon Core: A Scary Story of Sloppy Science from the Manhattan Project,” Extreme Tech, August 20, 2014
• Alex Wellerstein, “Forbidden Spheres,” Restricted Data, August 29, 2012
• Brian Davids, “‘Mission: Impossible’ Director on the Dark Plotline Cut from ‘Fallout,’” The Hollywood Reporter, July 30, 2018
• Chris Hewitt, “Christopher McQuarrie on Naming Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” Empire Online, February 1, 2018
• Adam Rawnsley and David Brown, “The Littlest Boy,” Foreign Policy, January 30, 2014
• Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, “Russian Nuclear Forces, 2017,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 73 no 2, 2017
• “The BBC’s Detailed Plan for Nuclear War,” July 23, 2015
• “The Apocalypse Will Be Live: CNN’s Mythical End of the World Video is Real,” The Guardian, January 6, 2015
• Robert Jay Lifton, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, September 2000
• Frances L. Flannery, Understanding Apocalyptic Terrorism: Countering the Radical Mindset, 2016

Episode 32: THEM!

In this episode, we followed chirping sounds in the desert and discovered GIANT RADIOACTIVE ANTS in the movie THEM! (1954). What happens to insects exposed to radiation in the real world? How did nuclear testing and atomic monster movies change public opinion on nuclear weapons? Where was Ant-man when the people Alamogordo needed him to calm these killer atomic ants? Tim Westmyer and returning special guest Tim Collins (@WarAndCake), PhD candidate studying British nuclear history, answer these questions and more.

Before we nuke more insects to see what happens, we recommend checking out:

• Jonathan Schell, The Fate of the Earth, 1982
• Barry Atkinson, Atomic Age Cinema: The Offbeat, the Classic and the Obscure, 2018
• Spencer Weart, The Rise of Nuclear Fear, 2012
• Richa Malhotra, “Ants Trapped in Nuclear Bunker are Developing Their Own Society,” NewScientist, September 5, 2016
• Gerard J. DeGroot, The Bomb: A Life, 2006
• Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, 1996
• Godzilla (1954 movie)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• John Mecklin, “Why Godzilla Matters,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 27, 2014
• “Warner Brother Chiller at Paramount,” New York Times, June 17, 1954
• “REVIEW: No Place to Hide,” by David Bradley, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist
• “THEM!” Turner Classic Movies 

Episode 33: The Sum of All Fears

In this episode, we did the math about what happens when you add a missing nuclear weapon together with neo-fascists and an unassuming CIA desk analyst in the Sum of All Fears (2002). How can terrorists get their hands on a plutonium core? Why did Russia allow the United States so many inspections of its nukes? Why won’t America just let Jack Ryan finish writing his memo. Tim Westmyer, Gabe, and special guest Jon Duke (@VortexAeroMedia) answer these questions and more.

Before we nuke more insects to see what happens, we recommend checking out:

• Peter Feaver, Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons in the United States, 1992
• Cresson H. Kearney, “Chapter 13: Surviving Without Doctors,” Nuclear War Survival Guide, 1987
• The Fourth Protocol (1987 movie)
• The Evolution of Trust 
• Peter Hennessey, The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War, 2002
• War Book (2014 movie)
• The Letter of Last Resort, BBC Radio 4, 2013

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• Warner D. Farr, “The Third Temple’s Holy of Holies: Israel’s Nuclear Weapons,” The Counterproliferation Papers, September 1999
• Avner Cohen, “The Last Nuclear Moment,” New York Times, October 6, 2003
• “Global Nuclear Stockpiles, 1945-2002,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• Webster Stone, “Moscow’s Still Holding,” The New York Times Magazine, September 18, 1988
• Martin Pfeiffer, “Nuclear Skepticism in the Age of Trump: Jon Wolfsthal’s Claims about Secretary Mattis and the Nuclear Launch Process,” Deus Ex Atomica, December 24, 2018
• Samira Goetschel, “‘The Graveyard of the Earth’: Inside City 40, Russia’s Deadly Nuclear Secret,” The Guardian, July 20, 2016
• Philip Baxter, “The False Hope of Nuclear Forensics? Assessing the Timeliness of Forensics Intelligence,” Federation of American Scientists, May 29, 2015
• START Treaty, NTI.org
• “Verification of New START,” Union of Concerned Scientists, July 2010
• “Arzamas-16 / Sarov,” GlobalSecurity.org
• Matthew Bunn, et. al, “Retooling Russia’s Nuclear Cities,” FrontLine, 1998
• “The Science and Technology Behind ‘The Sum of All Fears,'” Popular Science, May 29, 2002
• “The Sum of All Fears Controversy,” Fox News, May 29, 2002
• Stephen Holden, “FILM REVIEW: Terrorism That’s All Too Real,” New York Times, May 31, 2002
• Kyle Mizokami, “Look Inside America’s Apocalypse Plane That Would Take Charge During Nuclear War,” Popular Mechanics, September 25, 2017

Episode 34: Nuke Themed Escape Room

In this episode, we convened a team of nuke nerd to play an Escape Room with a nuclear weapon scenario. Did it help (or hurt) to have a background in nuclear weapons policy? How accurate can an Escape Room capture the complexities of nuclear war? How many red buttons were pushed to the limit in the making of this episode? Tim Westmyer and special guest Will Saetren (@willsaetren) answer these questions and more.

Before we look for more clues, we recommend checking out:

• BGNlab YouTube series by Scott Nicholson
• Spin Master Games – Escape Room The Game – “Nuclear Countdown”
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes – VR game

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode:

• The Last Defender at World of Escapes – Chicago, IL
• The Bunker at Escape Experience – Chattanooga, TN
• Escape Room: The Game – Walkthrough Part -3 Nuclear Meltdown
• The Bunker Experience – Pasadena, CA
• Cold War Crisis at American Escape Rooms – Orlando, FL
• Nuclear Countdown at Port City Escape Room – Wilmington, NC
• Fallout Shelter at Granite State Escape – Manchester, NH

Episode 35: Game of Thrones

In this episode, we debate one of the most important questions in international relations and nuclear policy today: are the dragons in Game of Thrones more like nuclear weapons or conventional air power? Does George R.R. Martin deploy the dragons as analogs for nuclear weapons? Do dragons serve more of a conventional air power or close air support role in the story’s military battles? Perhaps the dragons themselves aspire to be artists and bakers rather than being typecast as weapons of war? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Dr. Michael C. Horowitz (@mchorowitz) answer these questions and more.

Before we fly off beyond the wall with our dragons, we recommend checking out:

• Timothy Westmyer, “Dragons, Nuclear Weapons, and Game of Thrones,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2014
• Michael C. Horowitz and Matthew Fuhrmann, “Are ‘Game of Thrones’s’ Dragons the Equivalent of Nuclear Weapons? We Don’t Think So,” Washington Post’s Monkey Cage Blog, April 12, 2019
• Matthew Gault, “The Dragons in ‘Game of Thrones’ Aren’t Nukes, They’re an Air Force,” Motherboard, August 2017
• Michael Shurkin, “Dragons, Nukes, and Game of Thrones,” Scientific American, August 2017
• Reign of Fire, 2002 movie
• War College, podcast episode titled “What Game of Thrones Teaches Us About Nuclear War, September 2017
• Citadel Dropouts, podcast by Laura Hudson and Spencer Ackerman
• A Cast of Kings – A Game of Thrones Podcast, by Joanna Robinson and Dave Chen
• Mallory Rubin’s writing and podcasts on The Ringer
• Beatrice Fihn, “What ‘Game of Thrones’ Taught Us About Nuclear Devastation,” Daily Beast, May 17, 2019

Episode 36: Seven Days in May

In this episode, we debated the virtues of nuclear disarmament and democracy over a couple of days this month, specifically Seven Days in May. Does the movie realistically portray disagreements between the military and civilian leaders over nuclear weapons? What would cause the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to attempt a military coup? How long before General James Mattoon Scott becomes the 40+ person running for president in 2020? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Stephen I Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) answer these questions and more.

Before we went fishing at Blue Lake, we recommend checking out:

• The Manchurian Candidate, both the 1962 and 2004 movies
• International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
• Stephen I. Schwartz, Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, 1998
• David F. Krugler, This is Only a Test: How Washington, DC Prepared for Nuclear War, 2007
• The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• Garrett M. Graff, Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die, 2017

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Robyn Lee, “How the Owl Bar’s Green Chile Cheeseburgers Fueled the Atomic Bomb Scientists,” Serious Eats, October 14, 2011,
• Pat Brown, “The FBI Feared that “Seven Days in May” was Bad for America,” Muckrock, March 18, 2019
• Bruce Blair and Jon Wolfsthal, “Trump Can Launch Nuclear Weapons Whenever He Wants, With or Without Mattis,” Washington Post, December 23, 2018
• Martin Pfeiffer, “Nuclear Skepticism in the Age of Trump: Jon Wolfsthal’s Claims about Secretary Mattis and the Nuclear Launch Process,” Deus ex Atomica, December 24, 2018

Episode 37: Chernobyl

In this episode, we figured out how an RBMK reactor explodes by watching the hit HBO show Chernobyl. What caused the nuclear power plant disaster? How did the Soviet leadership and the Russian people respond to the crisis? If vodka is really such a powerful medicinal wonder, can it be covered by your health care insurance? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guests Meghan McCall (@Nuclear_Ginger_) and Geoff Wilson (@NuclearWilson) answer these questions and more.

Before we hug our dogs closer than normal, we recommend checking out:

• Chernobyl, Podcast by Craig Mazin and Peter Segal
• Chernobyl VR Project, The Farm 51
• The China Syndrome, 1979 movie
• Adam Higginbotham, Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster, 2019
• Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, 2006
• David McMillan and David Baillargeon, David McMillan: Growth and Decay: Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, 2019
• Pandora’s Promise, 2013 documentary
• Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, 2014
• Metro, video game series

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• “Chernobyl: Surviving Disaster,” BBC Docudrama, 2006
• Roxana Hadadi, “Hey! It’s That Guy! All the Actors From ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Terror’ Who Showed Up on ‘Chernobyl,'” Pajiba, June 6, 2019
• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, “‘A Powerful Depiction’: Chernobyl Workers Reflect on HBO Series,” YouTube, June 4, 2019
• The Chernobyl Story [Updated & Expanded], Reddit.com, February 27, 2015
• Zack Sharf, “Chernobyl Tourism Spikes 40% After HBO Miniseries, While Outraged Russia Promotes Own Series,” Indiewire.com, June 6, 2019
• Michael Shellenberger, “Why HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’ Gets Nuclear So Wrong,” Forbes.com, June 6, 2019
• Matt Wald, “A Viewer’s Guide to HBO Chernobyl Miniseries,” Nuclear Energy Institute, May 1, 2019
• Henry Fountain, “Chernobyl: Capping a Catastrophe,” New York Times, April 27, 2014
• Emily Todd VanDerWerff, “HBO’s Chernobyl is a Terrific Miniseries. Its Writer Hopes You Don’t Think It’s the Whole Truth,” Vox, June 4, 2019
• Chernobyl Helicopter Crash, YouTube
• Chernobyl 3828, 2011 Documentary
• Mikhail V. Malko, “The Chernobyl Reactor: Design Features and Reasons for Accident,” Recent Research Activities about the Chernobyl NPP Accident in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, July 2002
• Dawn Stover, “The Human Drama of Chernobyl,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 5, 2019

Episode 38: Six String Samurai

In this episode, we plucked Six String Samurai out of the cult movie bin to talk about the zany nuclear plots of this post-apocalypse western Kung Fu musical mashup. How would the power of rock and roll unite the wasteland after a nuclear war? Would Las Vegas be a target during the Cold War? Can this version of Buddy Holly handle the overpressure of ruling Lost Vegas? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we our post-Bomb sanity snapped, we recommend checking out:

• Fallout video game series, especially Fallout: New Vegas
• Mariachi, 1992 movie
• Red Elvises, band
• Dick Dale, musician

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Leonard Klady, “Six String Samurai,” Variety, March 25, 1998
• “Six String Samurai,” Film Threat, September 21, 1998
• “A Better Tomorrow,” Filmmaker Magazine 
• Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, 1995

Episode 39: Amazing Grace and Chuck

In this episode, we lived #ShootYourShot and watched the movie Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) where an NBA legend joins forces with a little league player to protest nuclear weapons. Could a child’s peaceful act of resistance against nuclear war inspire the world to Global Zero? What is the history of anti-nuclear weapon movements in the 1980s? If your chartered jet is exploded by an evil nuclear illuminate, is that technically a traveling violation? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Pranay Vaddi (@PranayVaddi), a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, answer these questions and more.

Before we assemble our Dream Team of professional athlete protesters, we recommend checking out:

• Judith Vigna, Nobody Wants a Nuclear War, 1986
• Laura Yeager, “Talking to Your Children about the Threat of Nuclear War,” July 8, 2018
• “Talking Nukes with Kids,” Awful Library Books, November 9, 2017
• Vincent J. Intondi, African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement, 2015
• Celtic Pride, 1996 movie
• Los Angeles Lakers: 2010 NBA Finals Series, DVD
• “The Bear,” Things that Go Boom, Podcast s1e1
• Kobe’s Final Game, April 13, 2016
• Strobe Talbott, Deadly Gambits, 1984
• Peter Beinart, “Think Again: Ronald Reagan,” Foreign Policy, June 7, 2010
• Jacob Weisberg, “Ronald Reagan’s Disarmament Dream,” The Atlantic, January 1, 2016

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Bob Cook, “‘Amazing Grace and Chuck,’ The Movie Where Youth Sports Met Nuclear War,” Forbes, August 9, 2017
• Pete Croatto, “Flick and Role: Amazing Grace and Chuck,” NBA Hoop, July 27, 2018
• “Amazing Grace and Chuck,” Variety, December 31, 1986
• “FILM: Amazing Grace and Chuck,” New York Times, May 22, 1987
• Michael Wilmington, “Peace as an Easy Layup in ‘Amazing Grace and Chuck,'” Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1987
• K. Harvey, American Anti-Nuclear Activism, 1975-1990: The Challenge of Peace, 2014

Episode 40: Godzilla

In this episode, we explored the nuclear origin story of Godzilla. What famous nuclear test inspired the Godzilla franchise? How did Toho Studios and Hollywood handle the nuclear story over the ages? Will the “King Kong vs. Godzilla” movie have a cameo from Major “King” Kong from Dr. Strangelove? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guests Rachel Emond (@Rachel_Emond) and Geoff Wilson (@NuclearWilson) of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation answer these questions and more.

Before we zipped up the rubber monster suit, we recommend checking out:

• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004 movie)
• Pacific Rim (2013 movie)
• Cinemassacre’s Monster Madness (YouTube series)
• Gojira (1954 movie)
• Stranger Things (Netflix series)
• Chernobyl (2019 HBO series)
• Godzilla in Hell (2015 comic book)
• Godzilla: Half Century War (2013 comic book)
• Cloverfield (2008 movie)
• Nukes of Hazard podcast

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Janne Nolan, “When Three Heads are Better than…Three Heads,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 56 no 4, July/August 2000
• Tim Martin, “Godzilla: the Incendiary – and Very Serious – History of Japan’s Original King of the Monsters,” The Telegraph, May 29, 2019
• Lovely Umayam, “Gojira vs. Godzilla: Two Nuclear Narratives in One Monster,” Bombshelltoe, November 9, 2014
• Alex Abad-Santos, “The Amateur’s Guide to Godzilla,” Vox, September 16, 2014
• “Gojira (1954),” Atomic Heritage Foundation, November 14, 2018
• Joe Cirincione and Geoff Wilson, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” HuffPost, July 10, 2015
• John Mecklin, “Why Godzilla Matters,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 27, 2014
• Kerry Brougher, “Art and Nuclear Culture,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 69 no 6, 2013
• “Just Like The 1954 Original, New Godzilla Embodies Our Age of Anxiety,” The Mainichi, August 23, 2016
• NECA Godzilla 2019 Detailed Interview, YouTube (Luminous)
• Driss Haboudane and Nicole Jawerth, “From Lab to Field: Indonesian Scientist Develop New Crops for Farmers Using Nuclear Science,” IAEA, April 24, 2019

Episode 41: When the Wind Blows

In this episode, we picked When the Wind Blows out of the children’s book bin to see what advise the 1982 graphic novel (and 1986 animated movie) have for surviving nuclear war in Britain. How easy was it to follow official government radiation survival guides during the Cold War? What was it like for the average family trying to make sense of nuclear deterrence? Will you ever be able to look at a baked potato again the same way after witnessing this story? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Sebastian Brixey-Williams (@seb_bw), Co-Director of the think tank BASIC, answer these questions and more.

Before we give up waiting on the Powers that Be to arrive, we recommend checking out:

• The Atomic Hobo podcast episodes on Meals on Wheels and When the Wind Blows
• Protest and Survive (1980)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, (1987 cartoon show)
• The Snowman (1982)
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
• Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
• CISD podcast episode “Setsuko Thurlow: Interview with a Hiroshima Survivor”, 2016
• BASIC Think Tank

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• “When the Wind Blows,” dramatization of graphic novel, YouTube
• BBC Radio Drama, “When the Wind Blows,” February 7, 1983
• Ray Acheson, “Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy,” TedxPlaceDesNationsWomen, January 8, 2019
• Carol Cohn, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals,” Signs 12, no 4, Summer 1987
• Advising the Homeowner on Protection Against Nuclear Attack, Home Office, 1963
• Protect and Survive, Home Office, 1980
• “The Morrison Shelter is Introduced,” WW2Today
• Julie McDowall, “Ferries as Nuclear Bunkers and State-Requisitioned Ice Cream Vans: What Britain Would Have Looked Like in Nuclear War,” iNews, February 6, 2018
• Neil Mitchell, “Why Apocalyptic Animation When the Wind Blows is Still Devastating,” BFI, January 23, 2018

Episode 42: Superman IV – The Quest for Peace

In this episode, we explore what happens when someone with superhuman speed tries to finish the nuclear arms race in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). How easy would it be for Superman to destroy the planet’s nuclear weapons himself? What happens with Lex Luthor decides to rearm the world? Is that a bird? Is that a plane? Is that… a giant wad of nuclear missiles flying toward the sun? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), Gabe, and special guest Will Saetren (@WillSaetren), Project Lead in Nonproliferation at CRDF Global, answer these questions and more.

Before we visit Nuclear Man at the nuclear power plant tour, we recommend checking out:

• Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013-2016 comics)
• Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2016 documentary)
• The Day the Earth Died!, June 1985, Superman no. 408
• Michael O’Hanlon, The Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament, 2010
• Watchmen (1986-1987 comics)
• Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, 2013
• Keren Yarhi-Milo, Knowing the Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence, and Assessment of Intentions in International Relations, 2014

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987 comic)
• Rui Lopes, “‘Must We All Remain Helpless?’: Superman vs. the Nuclear Threat in the late Cold War,” Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 10 no. 2, 2019 
• Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, “Global Nuclear Weapons Inventories, 1945-2010,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 66 no 4
• Thomas C. Schelling, “The Role of Deterrence in Total Disarmament,” Foreign Affairs, April 1962
• Thomas C. Schelling, “A World Without Nuclear Weapons?,” Daedalus, Fall 2009
• Rod Lyon, “Nuclear Tests Involving Ballistic Missiles with Live Warheads,” RealClearDefense, December 7, 2017
• “How North Korea’s Nuclear Tests Could Get Even More Terrifying,” NPR’s All Things Considered, September 6, 2017
• “A Look at Superman’s Power of Super Ventriloquism,” Diverse Tech Geek, October 19, 2014

Episode 43: Christmas at Ground Zero by Weird Al

In this episode, we ring in the holidays with the Weird Al Yankovic song, Christmas at Ground Zero. What does this 1986 jingle tell us about nuclear war? How does Weird Al repurpose Duck and Cover propaganda footage from the Cold War for his holiday melody? Is “dreaming” about a white Christmas technically a nightmare if it is snowing radioactive fallout? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Here is the song on YouTube.

Here is a clip of Kevin playing the song on his ukulele.

Before the next song on the nuclear war playlist comes on, we recommend checking out:
• We Will All Go Together When We Go, Tom Lehrer, 1959
• Amish Paradise, Weird Al, 1996
• Santa with Muscles, 1996 movie with Hulk Hogan
• The Night They Saved Christmas, TV movie 1984
• Running with Scissors, 1999 Weird Al
• Bad Hair Day, Weird Al, 1996
• Blue Christmas, Willie Nelson

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Sarah Pruitt, “How Duck and Cover Drills Channeled America’s Cold War Anxiety,” History Channel
• Mick Stingley, “‘Weird Al’ Talks About His ‘Sick and Twisted’ Music Parodies,” Esquire, July 21, 2014
• Alex Suskind, “The History Behind 12 Great Weird Al Videos,” Vulture, July 15, 2014
• Bruce W. Bennett, “How to Assess the Survivability of U.S. ICBMs,” RAND, June 1980

Episode 44: Twilight Zone – “Time Enough at Last” & “No Time Like the Past”

In this episode, we make time to watch two Twilight Zone episodes that deal with both “time” and nukes: “Time Enough at Last” and “No Time Like the Present.” How would the development of thermonuclear weapons impact your reading habit? If you had a time machine, how would you prevent the WWII atomic bombings? Does every household need a 2-in-1 bank vault/fallout shelter to protect their loved ones and valuables? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), Gabe, and returning guest Elliot answer these questions and more.

Before we update our reading list for the apocalypse, we recommend:

• Twilight Zone episode “Walking Distance”
• The Last Man on Earth (TV show, comedy)
• Black Mirror episode “San Junipero”
• Arctic, 2018 movie
• 12 Monkeys, 1995 movie
• H.G. Wells, The Time Machine, 1895 book
• Dan Carlin, “Supernova in the East,” Hardcore History Podcast
• Dan Carlin, “(Blitz) The Destroyer of Worlds,” Hardcore History Podcast
• Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”
• Star Trek episode “Patterns of Force”

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Elliot Carter, “Atomic Bank Vault,” Atlas Obscura
• Jon Else, “Rusting Museum of Our Attempted Suicide Survives in the Desert,” SF Gate, August 22, 2004
• “A Nuclear Family Vacation,” Slate, July 11, 2005
• “Warning Leaflets,” Atomic Heritage Foundation
• Alex Wellerstein, “A Day Too Late,” Restricted Data, April 26, 2013
• “Blinded by the Light of Hiroshima,” Independent, July 1995
• Joe Lauria, “When Time Stopped in Hiroshima – and When it Was Stolen,” Huffpost, December 6, 2017
• Alex Wellerstein, “The Kyoto Misconception,” Restricted Data, August 8, 2014

Episode 45: Fat Man and Little Boy

In this episode, we see how many scientists in the desert it takes to build an atomic bomb by watching the 1989 movie “Fat Man and Little Boy.” How did scientists and the military both collaborate and clash in the pursuit of the first nuclear weapon? What was the role of women scientists in this endeavor? Could you actually buy a condo in Manhattan even if you had the budget of the atomic bomb project? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guests/nuke experts Erin Connolly (@Erin_Conn17) and Kate Hewitt (@BlondNukeGirl) from Girl Security these questions and more.

Before we started eating our Pentagon cakes, we recommend:

• Erin Connolly, Kate Hewitt, “American Students Aren’t Taught Nuclear Weapons Policy in School. Here’s How to Fix that Problem,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 11, 2018
• Day One, 1989 TV Movie
• Robert Serber, The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How to Build the Atomic Bomb, 1992
• Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 1986
• Denise Kiernan, Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, 2014
• John Hersey, Hiroshima, 1946
• Kate Brown, Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, And The Great Soviet And American Plutonium Disasters, 2015
• GirlSecurity.org
• HighlyEnriched.com

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Fat Man and Little Boy, AFI.com
• Alex Wellerstein, “How To Die at Los Alamos,” Restricted Data, February 13, 2015
• “Human Radiation Experiments,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, July 11, 2017
• “Trinity Test – 1945,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, June 18, 2014
• Fat Man and Little Boy, Teach with Movies
• “Women Scientists in the Manhattan Project,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, October 9, 2018
• Kathy Keith, “The Women of the Manhattan Project,” Los Alamos National Laboratory, March 1, 2018
• Allistair Owens, Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson, 2016
• Women of the Manhattan Project: Coloring Book, Department of Energy

Episode 46: Air Force One

In this episode on April 1, the show gets inverted and becomes the Super Critical Angle of Attack podcast to talk about the movie Air Force One (1997). Sure, the movie has some nuclear weapon plots, but how well did it accurately portray POTUS’s airplane? Did the movie do justice to flight physics? If aviation accident prone Harrison Ford is your pilot, would you have a bad feeling about this? New podcast host Gabe and special guest Tim Westmyer (@Westmyer) answer these questions and more.

Before we fired up the Air Force One fax machine, we recommend:

• Countdown to Looking Glass, 1984 TV movie
• Independence Day, 1996 movie
• “The Air Force’s ‘Doomsday Plane’ is in the Shop,” DefenseOne, November 6, 2019
• On Board Air Force One, National Geographic documentary, 2009
• CBS News photo tour of Air Force One
• National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton Ohio
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• David Hochman, “‘Air Force One’ Reality Check,” Entertainment Weekly, August 1, 1997
• Kenneth T. Walsh, Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes, 2003
• Sig Christenson, “Retired Pilots Say ‘Air Force One’ is More Like One Farce,” Deseret News, August 9, 1997

Episode 47: Gilligan’s Island

In this episode, we tried to get healthy during quarantine by watching an episode of the TV show Gilligan’s Island called “Pass the Vegetables, Please” where the castaways get super powers from eating crops grown from radioactive seeds. Can radiation actually help farmers? What would happen if you ate radioactive food? Is the Professor a stand-in for Dr. Oppenheimer of the Manhattan Project? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we our three hour tour sets sail, we recommend:

• “HI FI Gilligan,” Gilligan’s Island, season 2, episode 10
• AtomicGardening.com
• “JUGHEAD,” LOST, “season 5, episode 3
• Visiting Tangier Island
• Archipelago tiki bar in Washington, DC

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• “Atomic Gardening in the 1950s,” Ripley’s Believe It or Not
• C.G. Lamm, “Applications of Isotopes and Radiation in Agriculture,” IAEA Buelltin, Vol 21, No 2/3
• “Food and Agriculture,” International Atomic Energy Agency 
• Trevor English, “Atomic Gardens: How Plants Were Bred with Gamma Radiation,” Interesting Engineering, August 11, 2017

Episode 48: Daybreak

In this episode, school is out for nuclear winter break, so we binged the Netflix series Daybreak about high school students surviving post-WWIII. How well does a nuclear war plot mesh with a John Hughes teenage comedy? What is the connection between sunflowers and nuclear disarmament? Who in our high school yearbook was voted “most likely to depress everyone with a podcast about nuclear war movies”? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Cecili Thompson-Williams (@cecilitw), Executive Director of Beyond the Bomb (@BeyondtheBomb) answer these questions and more.

Before we decide which post-apocalyptic clique to join, we recommend:

• The 100 (TV series)
• BeyondTheBomb.org
• Phineas and Ferb (TV series)
• WarGames (1983 movie)
• Night of the Comet (1984 movie)
• Elizabeth King, “How Growing Up with the Threat of Nuclear War Shapes Kids’ Psyches,” TheCut, June 7, 2017

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• David Krieger, “Sunflowers: The Symbol of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, August 24, 2015
• Molly Beauchemin, “Scientists are Using Sunflowers to Clean Nuclear Radiation,” Garden Collage, May 12, 2016
• “Thousands of Sunflowers Soak Up Nuclear Radiation in Fukushima,” InHabitat, August 23, 2011
• Graeme McMillan, “‘Daybreak’: Graphic Novel That Inspired the Netflix Show Returns,” Hollywood Reporter, November 1, 2019
• Brian Tallerico, “John Hughes Meets George A. Romero in Netflix’s Daybreak,” RogerEbert.com, October 23, 2019

Episode 49: Matinee

In this episode, we leave our bunkers and march like atomic ants to the movie theater to enjoy the film Matinee (1993). What does this story about director Joe Dante’s love of B-movies monster flicks have to say about the Cuban Missile Crisis and its impact on kids living in Florida? How do you write an effective comedy about topics that are usually nightmare fuel? When can we equip our own home theaters with Atomovision? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Matthew Gault (@mjgault), VICE journalist and host of the War College Podcast (@War_College) answer these questions and more.

Before we turn up the Rumble-Rama setting on our seats, we recommend:

• War College Podcast
• Them (1954) and Blast from the Past (1999)
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
• Barry Atkinson, Atomic Age Cinema: The Offbeat, the Classic, and the Obscure, 2014
• Matthew Gault, “How to Survive a Nuclear Bomb,” Vice, January 9, 2020
• L. Douglas Kenney, 15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation, 2012
• Adam Curtis, “To The Brink of Eternity,” Episode in the Pandora’s Box documentary series, 1992

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Owen Glelberman, “Matinee,” Entertainment Weekly, February 5, 1993
• “Cuban Missile Crisis,” National Security Archive
• “Nuclear Close Calls: The Cuban Missile Crisis,” Atomic Heritage Foundation
• M. Asher Cantrell, “6 (Non-3D) Movie Gimmicks from the Warped Mind of William Castle,” Film School Rejects, July 28, 2011
• Dr. Udru, “The Ghoulish Gimmicks of William Castle,” YouTube, November 18, 2016
• Peter Sobczynski, “You Gotta Keep Your Eyes Open: An Appreciation of Matinee,” RogerEbert.com, January 15, 2018
• Peter Rainer, “Movie Review: ‘Matinee’ an Affectionate Nod to Early ’60s Schlock: Joe Dante’s Comedy Shows How Teens May Have Seen the Cuban Missile Crisis as a Real-Life, Campy, Horror Film,” Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1993
• Darren Richman, “Movies You Might Have Missed: Joe Dante’s Matinee,” Independent, March 8, 2017
• Christopher Woody, “56 Years Ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis Took the World to the Brink of Nuclear War – Here’s What It Looked Like From Sunny Florida Beaches,” Business Insider, October 28, 2018
• “Charles Starkweather,” Wikipedia
• Katy Waldman, “The Nuclear Monsters that Terrorized the 1950s,” Slate, January 31, 2013
• Andrew Newman, “The Persistence of the Radioactive Bogeyman,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 23, 2017
• Melvin E. Matthews, 1950s Science Fiction Films and 9/11: Hostile Aliens, Hollywood, and Today’s News, 2007

Episode 50: Spies Like Us

In this episode, we aced our foreign service exam and started our undercover mission to the movie Spies Like Us (1995). How well does this comedy deploy a Soviet road mobile nuclear missile for hilarious effect? Can you actually recall a nuclear missile once it is in the air? Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, and doctor. Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we open up the nuclear disarmament negotiation board game box, we recommend:

• Fletch, 1985
• The Man Who Knew Too Little, 1997
• International Spy Museum
• Nuclear War Card Game, 1965
• Steven Pomeroy, An Untaken Road: Strategy, Technology, and the Hidden History of America’s Mobile ICBMs, 2016
• Get Smart, 1965-1970 TV Show

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Logan Nye, “This Air Force Unit Caught Spy Satellite Photos as They Fell From Space,” We Are The Mighty, April 2, 2018
• Daniel Oberhaus, “The First Spy Satellites Had to Drop Giant Buckets of Film Back to Earth,” Vice, April 22, 2017
• Dave Merrill, “The Launch a Nuclear Strike, President Trump Would Take These Steps,” Bloomberg, January 20, 2017
• “The Controversial History of United Fruit,” Cold Call Podcast, Episode 98, July 2, 2019

Episode 51: Miracle Mile

In this episode, we pulled an all-nighter to watch the thrilling movie Miracle Mile (1986) about star crossed lovers trying to escape Los Angeles at night before a possible nuclear attack. Why do we keep nuclear weapons in North Dakota? How long would you have before the missiles start landing in your backyard? Does Google Maps have a good escape route preprogrammed in the event of a pending nuclear war? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we answer this random payphone that is ringing nearby, we recommend:

• Cloverfield (2008 movie)
• 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016 movie)
• Six String Samurai (1998 movie)
• La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, CA
• Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon, 1983
• Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota
• NORMS Restaurants

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• David Weiner, “‘Miracle Mile’ at 30: The Nixed Happy Ending and Alternate Castings Revealed,” The Hollywood Reporter, May 17, 2019
• Andrew Todd, “Miracle Mile: A Romance for the Doom-Burdened,” BirthMoviesDeath.com, November 27, 2015
• Nick Nadel, “‘Miracle Mile’: Stream the Apocalyptic ’80s Romantic Comedy that’s Even More Relevant Today,” Decider, November 15, 2018
• SteveDeJarnatt.net (lots of great photos and behind the scenes content)
• Clint Worthington, “Steve De Jarnatt on the Long Apocalyptic Road to ‘Miracle Mile”s Cult Success,” The Spool, May 31, 2019
• Ashley Feinberg, “How These Microscopic Diamonds Are Going to Shape the Future,” Gizmodo, April 9, 2014
• “Air Force Sidelines 17 Nuclear Missile Officers,” Associated Press, May 8, 2013
• Benjamin Schwarz, “America’s Think Tank: Politics Warps a new History of the Mysterious RAND Corporation,” Columbia Journalism Review, June 2008

Episode 52: Testament

In this episode, we got the family together over Zoom to watch the most depressing “Hallmark movie” of all time, Testament (1983). How can one Mom keep the family going after a nuclear attack cuts off their community? How accurately does the movie portray the horrors of radiation sickness? How does nuclear war turn ham radio operators into the most important people on the planet? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Lucy Steigerwald (@LucyStag), contributing editor to AntiWar.com answer these questions and more.

Before we go blow out the candles on our sad birthday cake, we recommend:

• DVD extras for Testament, including “Testament at 20”
• Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)
• Airplane! (1980)
• Carol Amen, “The Last Testament,” Ms. Magazine, August 1981
• The Day After (1983)
• On the Beach (1959)
• Threads (1984)
• TheStagBlog.com, “Testament”

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Roger Ebert, “Review: Testament,” November 4, 1983
• B.L. Larson and K.E. Ebner, “Significance of Strontium-90 in Milk. A Review,” Journal of Dairy Science Vol 41 Issue 12, December 1958
• “Ice Cream,” LBJ Political Ad, 1964
• Lena, “Why ‘Testament’ is the Scariest Movie Ever Made,” FilmMisery.com,  October 31, 2013
• Scott Edward Anderson, “Is that a Banana in Your Pocket or Are You Radioactive?” EnergyCentral, March 18, 2011

Episode 53: By Dawn’s Early Light

In this episode, we scrambled our B-52s so we could watch the in-flight movie By Dawn’s Early Light (1990). What is the U.S. president to do once a nuclear war begins? Who is in command of the nuclear stockpile when POTUS is missing? Why is James Earl Jones always finding his finger on the nuclear button? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Sylvia Mishra (@MishraSylvia), doctoral researcher at King’s College London where studies nuclear strategy and emerging technologies, answer these questions and more.

Before we reach our positive control point, we recommend:

• Sylvia Mishra, “Directing Doomsday: Lessons Learned from Nuclear War in Film,” CSIS Next Generation Nuclear Network, July 8, 2020
• Fail-Safe, 1964 movie
• Countdown to Looking Glass, 1984 movie
• David Hoffman, The Dead Hand, The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy, 2010
• Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, 2017
• Christian Brose, The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare, 2020

Here are some additional related resources cited in the episode:

• Nicholas Thompson, “Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine,” Wired, September 21, 2009
• Bruce Blair and William Burr, “How the Strategic Air Command Would Go to Nuclear War,” National Security Archive, March 13, 2019
• Jessica Sleight, Zia Mian, and Frank von Hippel, “Bruce Blair: Challenging the Accidental Nuclear War Machine at Every Turn,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, August 11, 2020
• Bruce Blair, “Nuclear Recollections,” The Defense Monitor, April/May 2003
• Carol Cohn, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals,” Signs, Vol 12, No 4, Summer 1987
• William Burr, “Nuclear Weapons and Turkey Since 1959,” National Security Archive, October 30, 2019

Episode 54: Deterrence

In this episode, we left the polling booth to watch the movie Deterrence (2000) about a president fighting a nuclear war against Iraq while stranded in a diner during a snowstorm on the campaign trail. Are nuclear weapons useful to deter chemical, biological, or conventional weapon attacks? Can anyone stop an irrational president from ordering a nuclear strike? Is there a connection between the diner’s famous greasy chiliburger and the IBS News station? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we reach our positive control point, we recommend:
–Kevin Pollak Chat Show (2009-2019)
-Thomas Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict (1960) and Arms and Influence (1966)
–The Contender (2002 movie)

Episode 55: The Manhattan Project

In this episode, the high school yearbook voted us “Most Likely to Join the Nuclear Club” after we watched the 1986 movie The Manhattan Project where student Paul Stephens builds a nuclear bomb with plutonium stolen from a secret government lab run by the guy dating his mom. How easy is it to build a homemade nuclear weapon? What motivates a brilliant scientist to devote their life to WMD? Do you enter a homemade nuclear bomb at the science fair under the project category of physics, chemistry, or psychopath? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) answer these questions and more.

Before we earn extra credit by weaponizing some anthrax in AP Bio class, we recommend:
–Special Bulletin (1983 movie)
–Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes game
-“Fat Man and Little Boy,” The Simpsons, season 16 episode 5
–Science Fair (2018 documentary)
-Ken Silverstein, “The Radioactive Boy Scout,” Harper’s Magazine, November 1998
-Ken Silverstein, The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor, 2005
–The Day After Trinity (1980 documentary)
–WarGames (1983 movie)
-“Nth Country Experiment,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, March 1, 2019

Episode 56: On The Beach

In this episode, we raised the periscope on our nuclear submarine to enjoy the story of On the Beach – both the movie (1959) and book (1957). What is the more likely ultimate catastrophe of a nuclear war: global nuclear fallout or nuclear winter? Why did the Eisenhower administration try to shut this movie down? If you read On the Beach while sitting on a beach, is that just tempting fate? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione), Distinguished Fellow at the Quincy Institute and recent president of the Ploughshares Fund, answer these questions and more.

Before we start our engines at the Australian Grand Prix, we recommend:
-Beverly Gray, “The Continuing Relevance of ‘On the Beach,’” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, August 3, 2015
–Fallout (2013 documentary)
–Collisions (2015 documentary)
-Office of Technology Assessment, The Effects of Nuclear War, May 1979
–Fail Safe (1964 movie)
–Them! (1954 movie)
–Seven Days in May (1964 movie)

Episode 57: The Day After

In this episode, we looked at our calendars and realized it was finally the day to watch The Day After (1983). What would happen to a “middle of nowhere” city in Kansas in the event of a nuclear war? How did this TV movie impact the public dialogue about nuclear weapons? What about the movie scared Ronald Reagan so much he had to write about it in his diary (this is not a joke)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest David Craig (@Producing2Power), Clinical Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California and author of an upcoming book – Before The Day After – answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyy9n8r16hs&t=3840s

Thanks to everyone who pointed out that some of the movie’s stock footage came from the documentary First Strike: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPEBROvR9w&t=74s

Before we start power up our ham radios with the rare car battery, we recommend:
-David Craig’s book (Before The Day After)when it is available!
-Dawn Strover, Facing Nuclear Reality: 35 Years After the Day After, December 2018
-Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Last Epidemic
–Testament (1983)
–Threads (1984)
–Viewpoint episode that aired right after The Day After
-Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 1986
-Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb, May 2013
–That Certain Summer (1972)
-Beth A. Fisher, The Reagan Reversal: Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War, 2000

Episode 58: Twilight’s Last Gleaming

In this episode, we put a crew together to seize a movie theater to watch the nuclear missile silo hostage taking movie Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977). How easy is it to hijack a nuclear Titan ICBM launch site? What does the Vietnam War have to do with the logic of nuclear deterrence? Is “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” what they call the sparkly skin in those vampire movies? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), Gabe, and returning special guest returning special guest Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst), answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMnX8Hd0TPQ

Before we disable our cutoffs and inhibitors, we recommend:
–Kiss Me Deadly (1955 movie) also directed by David Aldirch
–The Parallax View (1974 movie)
-David Halberstram, The Best and the Brightest, 1972
–Defence of the Realm (1986 movie)
–A Very British Coup (1988 TV series)
–Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota

Episode 59: The Heroes of Telemark

In this episode, we put on our skis and telemarked our way to the winter lodge to watch the movie The Heroes of Telemark (1965) about a team of Norwegian resistance fighters sabotaging a heavy water plant during WWII to prevent Germany from getting closer to an atomic bomb. How close was Nazi Germany from building a nuclear weapon? What is the importance of heavy water in a nuclear program? What is more likely: that Tim builds a homemade nuclear device or Tim properly pronounces all these Norwegian names? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), and returning special guest returning special guest Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBiR8ZipPM

Before we synchronize our ticking clock time bombs, we recommend:
-William Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid, 2016
-Neal Bascomb, The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb, 2017
–The Final Countdown (1980 movie)
–Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (VR game with Norwegian heavy water plant level)
–The Heavy Water War (2015 Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation show)
–Norway Resistance Museum
–Vemork Hydro Plant

Episode 60: Notorious

In this episode, we called our sommelier for advice on the best atomic alcohol to drink while watching the Alfred Hitchcock movie Notorious (1946) telling a spy romance story that discovers uranium ore stashed in a wine bottle owned by ex-Nazis hiding out in Brazil. How did Hitchcock introduce the first major atomic MacGuffin plot device so soon after the reveal of the Manhattan Project? What could a rogue element do with uranium ore hidden in a wine cellar? Why don’t the ex-Nazis hide the uranium in a bottle of Wild Turkey because nobody would ever want to look closer at that bottle. Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LwPhO2qPcQ

Before we check out tea for poison, we recommend:

• Rear Window (1954 movie)
• The Boys From Brazil (1978 movie)
• Uranium Glass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_glass)
• Casablanca (1942 movie)
• “How Atomic Physics Helped Solve a Wine Fraud Mystery,” NPR, June 3, 2014

Episode 61: Crimson Tide

In this episode, we called opened our nuclear launch code safes to pull out the DVD box for Crimson Tide (1995) about two leaders on a submarine butting heads about whether to launch nuclear missiles and possibly start and/or stop WWIII. How accurate did the film portray nuclear command and control launch procedures? What role do boomers play in nuclear deterrence? How does Captain Ramsey’s dog have such a keen sense of a person’s character? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guests Geoff Wilson of the Council for Arms Control and Nonproliferation (@NuclearWilson) and nuclear expert Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more.

Before we concur on the latest EAM, we recommend:

• The Man Who Saved the World (2013 documentary)
• Jeffrey G. Lewis and Bruno Tertrais, “The Finger on the Button: The Authority to Use Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear-Armed States,” CNS Occasional Paper #45, February 2019
• Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of Submarine Espionage, 2016
• Project Azorian
• Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, 2021
• Robert Moore, A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy, 2016
• Armageddon Letter, http://www.armageddonletters.com/

Episode 62: False Alarm

In this episode, we watched the documentary False Alarm (2021) about that time in 2018 no one talks about anymore when the people of Hawaii received an erroneous warning on their phone that North Korea fired a nuclear armed ballistic missile and they had minutes to live. What was the reaction of people who received this ominous message? How does this ordeal stack up to Hawaiians’ long history of being on the short end of the nuclear arms race? Have there ever been a worse case of Textmergency/Textastrophe than this nuclear attack warning appearing on every cell phone in Hawaii? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and the documentary’s director Nick Lyell (@FalseAlarmFilm) answer these questions and more.

Movie information: www.FalseAlarmFilm.com

Before we clear our nuclear notifications on our mobile phones, we recommend:

• False Alarm (documentary 2021)
• Super Critical Podcast episode #21 on Ladybug Ladybug (1963)
• Alia Wong, “Pandemonium and Rage in Hawaii,” The Atlantic, January 14, 2018
• Sean Flynn, “The Real Story of the Hawaiian Missile Crisis,” GQ, April 2, 2018
• Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua, et al, A Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements for Life, Land, and Sovereignty, 2014
• Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawaii (2008 documentary)
• The Bomb (PBS 2015 documentary)
• The Future, WTF (card game made by Nick Lyell and the Solar Punk Surf Club)

Episode 63: The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica

In this episode, we went interstellar with our intercontinental ballistic missiles to talk about nuclear weapons in two science fiction shows: The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica. How are nuclear weapons used as weapons (and themes) in these two stories? What would the impact of a nuclear weapon actually be against a spaceship? When are we getting our Gaius Baltar and Paolo Cortázar buddy comedy? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Stefan Sasse (@StefanSasse), host of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour podcast, answer these questions and more.

Before we get in our crash couches and jump the ship, we recommend:

• John McPhee, The Curve of Binding Energy: A Journey into the Awesome and Alarming World of Theodore B. Taylor, 1974
• Marco Fey, et al., The nuclear taboo, Battlestar Galactica, and the real world: Illustrations from a science-fiction universe, Security Dialogue 47 no. 4, 2016
• Neal Stephenson, Seveneves, 2015
• The Foundation (Apple TV)
• Raised by Wolves (Apple TV)        

Episode 64: A Carol for Another Christmas

 

In this episode, we found a bootleg DVD in our stocking of the 1964 TV movie A Carol for Another Christmas, which retold the classic Christmas Carol story but with nuclear war. What was the public diplomacy mission of this pro-UN film? How does isolationism and international engagement theories suggest doing with the problem of nuclear weapons? Does the Ghost of Christmas Future know when the last two books in A Song of Ice and Fire come out? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and podcast co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we get in our crash couches and jump the ship, we recommend:

• Scrooged (1988 movie)
• We’re Doomed! (2019 board game)
• “Time Enough at Last” and “No Time Like the Present,” Super Critical Podcast episode #47

Episode 65: Choose Your Own Adventure Book

 

In this episode, we flipped our way through the pages of the Choose Your Own Adventure book, The Brilliant Dr. Wogan (1987) where a missing scientist might have a radiation neutralizer that can end the threat of nuclear war. How does the multiple ending and narrative freedom of this book genre help teach kids about nuclear dangers? What does this radiation neutralizer have in common with Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program? When is the book report on this story due again (this might just be a reoccurring nightmare the podcasts keep having well into their 30s)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we return the book to the library, we recommend:

• Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018, Netflix)
• Paul Lettow, Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 2006
• Timothy J. Jorgenson, Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation, 2016
• Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon, 1959
• Kate Moore, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, 2018
• 57 North, mobile game published by Mighty Coconut
• Brian Jacques, Redwall, book series 1986-2011
• Peter George, Dr. Strangelove (novelization), 1963

Episode 66: Star Trek Voyager – The Warhead

In this episode, we investigated a distress beacon to find our new artificially intelligent WMD friend in the Star Trek Voyager episode “Warhead” (s5 e25 – 1999) where the crew picks up smart bomb hitchhiker hellbent on finishing his military mission. Why don’t all nuclear armed missiles have a self-destruct feature? How do you deter against a nuclear strike from a planet 80 light years away? How does the USS Voyager convince a nuclear bomb to stop loving itself and not explode? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host Gabe, and special guest James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) — consultant working on trans-Atlantic cooperation and public diplomacy — answer these questions and more.

Before we check out of sick bay, we recommend:

• Russian Roulette, PBS, February 23, 1999
• Dark Star (1974 movie by John Carpenter)
• “One,” Metallica, …And Justice for All (1989)
• Meilan Solly, “The Japanese WWII Soldier Who Refused to Surrender for 27 Years,” Smithsonian Magazine
• The Delta Flyers, Voyager Podcast
• Jetrel, Star Trek Voyager (s1 e15, May 1995)
• Sunshine (2007 movie)
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996 movie)
• Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons (2022), Wizards of the Coast

Episode 67: Top Gun – Maverick

In this episode, we found ourselves in the danger zone watching a surprise nuclear weapon plot in the fun movie Top Gun: Maverick (2022) where Tom Cruise needs to teach a crew of hot shot misfits to airstrike a uranium enrichment facility on the Death Star (kind of). Why did Top Gun sequel feel the need to raise the nuclear stakes in the plot? Any real life influence on the story related to airstrikes against similar nuclear facilities? Will this movie series ever run out of team building activities to play on the beach sand? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host/aviation guru Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we request a tower flyby, we recommend:

• Hot Shots! (1991 parody of Top Gun)
• Amb. Wendy Sherman, Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Power, and Persistence, 2018
• “Israel Admits Striking Suspected Syrian Nuclear Reactor in 2007,” BBC, Mach 21, 2018
• “Israeli Attack on Iraq’s Osirak 1981: Setback or Impetus for Nuclear Weapons,” National Security Archive, June 7, 2021
• “Top Gun – The Need for Speed,” LockheadMartin.com
• “Tom Cruise Terrifies James in ‘Top Gun’ Fighter Jet!,” The Late Night Show with James Corden channel on YouTube, March 24, 2022
• “Actual TOPGUN, Dave Berke, Reacts to “TOPGUN: Maverick” with Jocko Willink,” Jocko Podcast channel on YouTube, June 3, 2022

Episode 68: WarGames – The Dead Code

In this episode, we watched a whopper, err WOPR of a movie in the 2008 direct to video-on-demand sequel to the classic nuke movie called WarGames: The Dead Code. What could go wrong when you put artificial intelligence back in charge of the nukes and the predator drones? How to do you convince a machine that nuclear war is unwinnable? What happens when you don’t know what “The Dead Code” is and at this point you’re too afraid to ask? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Lucy Steigerwald (@lucystag) answer these questions and more.

Before we booked our flight to Montreal, we recommend:

• WarGames (1983)
• Miracle Mile (1988)
• The Iron Giant (1999)
• Natasha Bajemna, Rescind Order, 2020
• David Hoffman, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, 2009
• Future Man (2017-2020, Hulu TV Show)
• Zachary Kallenborn, “Giving an AI Control of Nuclear Weapons: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 1, 2022

Episode 69: Chain Reaction

In this episode, we were fresh out of hydrogen so we need to watch Chain Reaction (1996) to learn how to make some more. How does this Cold Fusion adjacent movie draw on nuclear themes for its plot? Does the subplot about our heroes being framed as spies for China stealing national secrets have parallels to real life events? Did Evel Kinevil ever jump his stunt bike over a mushroom cloud? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we powered the city of Chicago with our Nalgene bottle, we recommend:

• The Fugitive (1993 movie)
• The Saint (1997 movie)
• Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion, 1993
• Eduro Life Media, “Impossible Climb Andler 2019 – Dirt Bike Graveyard – Hill Climb,” YouTube
• David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, 2017

We also recommend checking out:

• Josh Friedman, “I’m Your Friend, Eddie,” I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing (Blog), August 24, 2005
• Free Energy Suppression Conspiracy Theory, Wikipedia
• Beth Laski, “Reeves, Davis Ring Up ‘Dead’ Cash,” Variety, January 8, 1995
• Tim Prokop, “Causing a Chain Reaction,” Movie (Aus), January/February 1997
• William J. Broad, “Spies vs. Sweat: The Debate Over China’s Nuclear Advance,” New York Times, September 7, 1999

Mini-Nuke Episodes

Episode 1: Star Trek Beyond

In this episode, we suppress our emotional sides and explore the logic behind the 2016 science fiction adventure movie, Star Trek Beyond. This is the first in our new series within the podcast — Mini-Nuke episodes — where we find movies that do not have enough nuclear nonsense for a full-sized episode but nonetheless warrant some over analyzation.

We go into needless detail about Spock’s radioactive jewelry gift to Uhura, which also doubles as a handy tracking device. This plot device has real life inspiration in Trinitite or atomsite glass, a glass byproduct of nuclear detonations in the desert that were the latest fashion trend before they started giving people nasty burns.

Before we jump on ebay looking for our own atomic jewelry, be sure to check out these sources:

• Dan Carlson, “The Story of Vokaya: Beyond a Fan’s Wildest Dreams,” Star Trek Minutiae, July 29, 2016
• Vokaya, Memory Alpha
• Mitch Higgins, “Radioactivity of Trinitite,” YouTube
• Steven L. Kay, “Trinitite Varieties,” Nuclearon
• Nelson Eby et. al., “Trinitite—the atomic rock,” Geology Today, Vol 26 no. 5, September/October 2010

Marion Fasel, “Exclusive: Jewelry Details for Star Trek Beyond,” The Adventurine

Thanks to Martin Pfeiffer (@NuclearAnthro) and Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) for the following sources:

• “Atomic Jewelry,” The American Horologist magazine, May 1946
• Jon Michaud, “James Acord, Alchemist for the Nuclear Age,”
  The New Yorker, January 19, 2011
• Advert for 1940s Atomsite Jewelry

Episode 2: Blast from the Past

In this episode, we venture out of our cozy fallout bunker to watch the 1999 romantic comedy, Blast from the Past.

Tim and a special guest — his sister, Diana — delve into the history and use fallout shelters. Ranging from the overkill shelter in the movie to the more modest versions you’d find in backyards during the Cold War, this episode tells you everything you need to know to protect yourself from radioactive fallout — just not what to do if you get stuck in one for decades.

Photos of Tim’s trip down into a fallout shelter are up on our Facebook page.

• Before your fallout shelter doors automatically lock for 35 years, be sure to check out these sources:
• James Daniel, “Survive the Apocalypse in Style,” DailyMail, September 6, 2013
• Eli Segall, “Mysterious group buys underground doomsday house in Las Vegas,” VegasInc, April 4, 2014
• Andrew Taylor, “Underground home was built as Cold War-era hideaway,”
  Review Journal, June 20, 2013
• “Underground Homes,” New York World’s Fair, 1964
• Life Magazine, “How You Can Survive Fallout,” September 15, 1961
• F-86 Nuclear Sabre
• Janet Maslin, “After Decades in a Bomb Shelter, a Family Learns the Only Fallout Is Social,” New York Times, February 12, 1999
• “Blast from the Past: Building Elden Underground,” CinemaReview
• UndergroundBombShelter.com
• Civil Defense Museum
• David Dunlap, “Civil Defense Logo Dies at 67, and Some Mourn Its Passing,” New York Times, December 1, 2006

Episode 3: The “Daisy” Ad

In this episode, we got political and watched the infamous “Daisy” commercial run by the Lyndon Johnson for President campaign against Sen. Barry Goldwater in 1964. What was it like before political ads went so negative? Why was this ad so creepy and yet so effective in portraying the country’s nuclear anxieties? Why didn’t this child actor win an Oscar? Tim and Joel answer these questions and more.

Before we picked off the last petal on our flower, we recommended reading

• Robert Mann, Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater, and the Ad that Changed Politics Forever (LSU Press, 2011)
• Bombs Away, documentary by University of Virginia Center for Politics, 2014

Other sources to check out:

• Clinton Campaign, “Silo,” October 2016
• Clinton Campaign, “Daisy Ad,” October 31, 2016
• Johnson Campaign, “Peace, Little Girl,” September 1964
• Johnson Campaign, “Ice Cream Girl,” September 1964
• Johnson Campaign, “Atomic Bomb – Test Ban,” 1964
• Johnson Campaign, “Pregnant Lady,” 1964
• Zack Beauchamp, “The Clinton team found the star of the most famous political ad in history to pound Trump,” VOX, October 31, 2016
• Robert Mann, “How the ‘Daisy’ Ad Changed Everything About Political Advertising,” Smithsonian, April 13, 2016
• Robert Mann and Zack Stanton, “LBJ’s Ad Men: Here’s How Clinton can Beat Trump,” Politico, May 29, 2016
• Julian Zelier, “Return of the ‘Daisy’ ad can’t revive politics of the 1960s,” CNN, October 31, 2016
• Barry Goldwater, Remarks on Senate Floor on LTBT, September 19, 1963
• Ross Rosenbaum, “An Unsung Hero of the Nuclear Age,” Slate, February 28, 2011

Episode 4: The Martian

In this episode, we had a lot of time on our hand after being marooned on another planet, so we watched the 2015 science fiction/comedy The Martian. How dangerous are plutonium fueled Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators? Does cosmic radiation doom Matt Damon life on Mars? Why does every Mars movie need an impossible sandstorm? Tim and special guest host Gabe answer these questions and more. We also hear from Chris Marisola who breaks down the maritime/space law in the movie for us.

Before we fulfilled our Iron Man fantasies, we recommended checking out:

• Timothy Jorgensen, Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation (Princeton Press, 2016)
• The documentary “To Mars by A-Bomb: The Secret History of Project Orion,” BBC, 2003, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYoLcJuBtOw
• George Dyson, Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship (Henry Holt and Co, 2002)
• Marshall Savage, The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps (Little, Brown and Company, 1992)

Also check out the sources below to learn more:

• Chris Marisola, Lawfareblog.com
• Rhett Allain, “The Science in The Martian Isn’t Perfect, but That’s Okay,” Wired, September 23, 2015
• Rhett Allain, “How That Spinning Spacecraft From The Martian Would Work,” Wired, August 25, 2015
• Sarah Fecht, “Realism Makes ‘The Martian’ One of the Greatest Sci-Fi Films of All Time,” Popular Science, September 30, 2015
• “Sandstorms, Explosions, Potatoes, Oh My: ‘Martian’ Takes Its Science Seriously,” NPR, September 27, 2015
• Rod Adams, “‘The Martian’s’ RTG Science Includes Jarring Errors,” Atomic Insights, July 6, 2013,
• Ron Turner, “The Radiation Threat to ‘The Martian,’” ANSER, 2015
• Terry Dunn, “Dissecting the Technology of ‘The Martian’: Electrical Power,” Tested.com, September 9, 2015
• “The Science Behind ‘The Martian’ – Staying Warm on Mars,” Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Gary L. Bennett, “Review: The Martian,” Federation of Scientists, 2015
• Dave Mosher, “NASA’s Plutonium Problem Could End Deep-Space Exploration,” Wired, September 19, 2013
• Project Orion, Wikipedia
• Steve Spaleta, “Project Orion Nuclear Propulsion – 1950s Tests (video), Space.com, December 14, 2014

Episode 5: Batman v Superman

In this episode, we teamed up to discuss the portrayal of nuclear weapons in the 2016 superhero movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Just how easy is it to nuke a moving target in space? Do nukes still pack a punch for today’s movie audiences? Why can’t Superman and Batman just talk about their feelings? Tim and Joel answer these questions and more.

Before we recharge our alien cells using solar radiation (or sunflowers), we recommend checking out:

• Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns, 1986
• Matthew Gault, “How the U.S. Military Could Kill Superman: Kryptonite… and Lots of Nukes,” WarIsBoring.com, May 31, 2016
• 300, Legendary Pictures, 2007

Also check out the sources below to learn more:

• “Nuclear Chicanery in ‘Batman vs. Superman,’” Poetry in Physics, March 30, 2016,
• “Hydrogen Bomb and Nuclear Tests in Space,” Military Defense (YouTube), June 23, 2015
• Starfish Prime (nuclear test in space), Wikipedia
• Phil Plait, “The 50^th Anniversary of Starfish Prime: The Nuke that Shook the World,” Discover, July 9, 2012

Episode 6: Jaws

In this episode, we explored the history of nuclear weapons as told by the movie Jaws (1975). What happened to the USS Indianapolis after it delivered parts for the Little Boy atomic bomb? Could Jaws actually be the Godzilla of the sea? Tim and special guest Mike answer these questions and more.

Before we start looking for a bigger boat, we recommend checking out:

• “Nuclear Shark,” Shark Week, Discovery Channel, 2016
• “USS Indianapolis,” Atomic Heritage Foundation
• “Open Water,” Lionsgate, 2003
• “Open Water 2: Adrift,” Lionsgate, 2006
• “Deep Blue Sea,” Warner Bros, 1999

Also check out the sources below to learn more:

• “Sinking of USS Indianapolis,” Naval History and Heritage Command, August 26, 2016
• Natasha Geiling, “The Worst Shark Attack in History,” Smithsonian, August 8, 2013
• Jennifer Viegas, “Worst Shark Attack,” Discovery.com
• Phil Gast, “New Details: Sharks, Secrets and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis,” CNN, July 29, 2016
• “Gun-type Fission Weapon,” Wikipedia

Episode 7: The Interview

In this episode, we sat down with North Korea to conduct a podcast about The Interview (2014). Is North Korea’s nuclear weapon program a laughing matter or something to worry about? How does the Kim family stay in power? How to do you show ‘em what your worth when fireworks are banned in your city? Tim Westmyer and special guest Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we look to see if our tourist trip to North Korea had refundable airfare, we recommend checking out: 

• Arms Control Wonk podcast and blog
• Barbara Dimmick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, 2009
• North Korea Economy Watch
• Team America: World Police

Also check out the sources below to learn more:

• Hollywood Reporter, “Sony Altering Kim Jong Un Assassination Film ‘ The Interview,'” August 13, 2014
• Choe Sang-Hun, “North Korea Warns U.S. Over Film Mocking Its Leader,” New York Times, June 25, 2014
• Andrew O’Neil, “North Korea’s Dangeously Rudimentary Nuclear Command-and-Control Systems,” Real Clear Defense, August 14, 2017
• Andrew O’Neil, “A Rational North Korea Might Still Strike America First,” War on the Rocks, August 18, 2017
• Joby Warrick, “North Korea Now Making Missile-Ready Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Analysts Say,” Washington Post, August 8, 2017
• Patricia Lewis, Heather Williams, Benoit Pelopidas, and Sasan Aghlani, “Too Close for Comfort: Cases of Near Nuclear Use and Options for Policy,” Chatham House Report, April 2014

Episode 8: The Leftovers

In this episode, we pondered the nuke plot mysteries of HBO’s The Leftovers, especially season 3. How easy is it for a random French sailor to launch a nuclear missile? Can forcing the president to kill one person make them think twice about starting nuclear war? What the heck was the departure anyway? Tim Westmyer and Joel answer these questions and more in Joel’s last episode as a regular co-host.

This is the eighth in our Mini-Nuke episode series, where we overthink movies with a smaller slice of nuclear weapons plot than our usual full-sized episodes.

Before we departed, we recommend checking out: 

• “Buttons, Not Buttons,” Radiolab Podcast, December 12, 2014
• Bruno Tertrais, “The Last Nation to Disarm? The Future of France’s Nuclear Weapons,” The Nonproliferation Review 14 no 2, 2007
• LOST
• Nash Bridges

Also check out the sources below to learn more:

• French Missile-Launching Nuclear Submarine, NATO Channel, YouTube
• Valerie Leroux, “In the Belly of the Beast,” Agence France Presse, November 28, 2016
• Alex Wellerstein, “The Heart of Deterrence,” Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, September 19, 2012
• Alex Wellerstein, “The Button that Isn’t,” Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, December 15, 2014
• Roger Fisher, “Preventing Nuclear War,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1981
• Philip M. Boffey, “Social Scientists Believe Leaders Lack a Sense of War’s Reality,” The New York Times, September 7, 1982
• Owen Chamberlain, “Hostages for Peace,” Letters of Note, December 15, 2009
• Letters of Last Resort
• Atomic Ephemera, “The Human Button – Peter Hennessy,” YouTube, December 2014

Episode 9: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

In this episode, we passed the nuclear test of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. How did Indiana Jones end up facing down a nuclear mushroom cloud? Can a lead-lined fridge serve as a decent fallout shelter? Is Indiana Jones an immortal superbeing? Tim Westmyer, Gabe, and special guest Alex answer these questions and more.

Before we locked the fridge door, we recommend checking out:

• Nightbreaker (1989 TV movie)
• Andrew G. Kirk, Doom Towns: The People and Landscapes of Nuclear Testing, A Graphic History (2016)
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory YouTube page on nuclear tests
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (TV Show)

Check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects discussed in the episode:

• Maurice Mitchell, “How Indiana Jones Survived ‘Nuking the Fridge’ [Inforgraphic],” The Geek Twins, April 10, 2012
• Ross Pomeroy, “What It’s Like to Actually See an Atomic Explosion,” RealClear Science, April 17, 2016
• Scott Harrison, “From the Archives: Journalists Witness Nevada A-Bomb Tests,” Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2017
• Laura Bliss, “Atomic Tests Were a Tourist Draw in 1950s Las Vegas,” CityLab.com, August 8, 2014
• David Scechner, “Subjecting ‘Fridge Nuking’ to Scientific Peer Review,” Overthinking It, February 22, 2012 
• T. Mansfield, A. Wills, I. Doggett, S.S. Kohli, “Indiana Jones and the Fridge to Freedom,” Journal of Physics Special Topics, November 10, 2016
• Sean O’Connell, “Indiana Jones Actually Could Have Survived a Nuke in a Fridge,” Cinema Blend, 2013
• Melissa Locker, “Indiana Jones ‘Nuke the Fridge’ Plot is, Shockingly, Scientifically Impossible,” Time, February 28, 2012
• “How Nuclear Tests were Conducted,” AtomCentral.com

Episode 10: Back to the Future

In this episode, we loaded up our DeLorean with plutonium and popcorn so we could talk about the heavy nuclear plot of the movie Back to the Future. How safe was Doc Brown’s nuclear time machine? Why was Doc Brown cavorting with Libyan terrorists? Does the Mr. Fusion come in as many colors as a Kitchen-Aid mixer? Tim Westmyer and special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we activated our time circuits, we recommend checking out:

• Back in Time (documentary), 2015
• Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer, Unclear Physics: Why Iraq and Libya Failed to Build Nuclear Weapons, 2016
• Rich Handley, A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon, 2012
• Back to the Future: The Game (2010), Tell Tale Games
• DeLorean (documentary), 1981

Check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects discussed in the episode:

• Back to the Future Original Script Summary and The Script
• Peter Sciretta, “How Back to the Future Almost Nuked the Fridge,” Slash Film, July 15, 2009
• Back to the Future — Nuclear Test Site Ending Storyboard Sequence, YouTube
• Anne Wheeler, “Robert Zemeckis Gets Me,” McSweeney’s, September 9, 2013
• Rhett Allain, “How Do You Get 1.21 Gigawatts for your Time Machine?” Wired, September 16, 2013
• Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer, “Giving Up on the Bomb: Revisiting Libya’s Decision to Dismantle its Nuclear Program,” Wilson Center, October 23, 2017
• Martha Williams, “On the Importance of MC&A to Nuclear Security,” CISSM Working Paper, February 2014
• Mark Hibbs, “Plutonium, Politics, and Panic,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November/December 1994

Episode 11: 99 Luftballons

In this episode, we tuned the radio to the song 99 Luftballons (or 99 Red Balloons) by the band Nena and talked about its connections to nuclear weapons, the Cold War arms race, and anti-nuclear protests. How did the threat of intermediate range nuclear missiles in Europe inspire Nena to write this catchy dirge? What happens when early warning systems confuse 99 balloons for UFOs and nukes? What artist will win their Grammy about the dangers of Gamma Rays? Tim Westmyer and returning special guest Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more.

Before we hit shuffle on our nuke war mix to lament the death of the INF Treaty, we recommend checking out:

• The Man Who Saved the World (2014 documentary)
• Rush, “Distant Early Warning,” Grace Under Pressure, 1984
• No Nukes: The Muse Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future (1979)
• Jeffrey Lewis, The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States, 2018
• Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, 2014

Check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects discussed in the episode:

• Marco Principia, “Paranoia in the Cold War: 99 Luftballons – Nena,” Words in the Bucket
• William M. Knoblauch, “MTV and Transatlantic Cold War Music Videos,” Temp – Tidsskrift for Historie, 3(6), 2013
• David Browne, “Atomic Rock: The Cold War Hit Parade,” CNN.com
• Mary Hill, “Exploring the Protest Language of Songs: We Shall Overcome and 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons,” The Language Protest of Songs, April 2018

Episode 12: Starship Troopers

In this episode, we wanted to learn more about the mobile infantry, so we talked about Starship Troopers, both the 1997 movie and 1959 book. How does the story deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the war against the bugs? Why was the book’s author inspired to write a protest against the campaign to end nuclear testing? Who would Herman Kahn enjoy talking to more: Carl or the brain bug? Tim Westmyer (@nuclearpodcast), Will Saetren (@WillSaetren), and Geoff Wilson (@nuclearwilson) answer these questions and more.

This is the 12th in our Mini-Nuke episode series, where we overthink pop culture with a smaller slice of nukes than our usual full-sized episodes.

Before we decide to talk a walk down washout lane, we recommend checking out:

• John Scalzi, Old Man’s War, 2005
• Joe Halderman, The Forever War, 1974
• Robocop (1987 movie)
• Helldivers (video game)
• The Day After (1983 movie)
• Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe, 1980

Check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects discussed in the episode:

• Calum Marsh, “Starship Troopers: One of the Most Misunderstood Movies Ever,” The Altantic, November 7, 2013
• Ned Carter Miles, “The Complex, Seductive Satire of Starship Troopers,” Little White Lies, November 5, 2017
• Andrew Liptak, “Robert Heinlein’s ‘Starship Troopers’ & The Cold War,” Kirkus Reviews, September 12, 2013
• Frederick Blichert, “Critics Would Have Loved ‘Starship Troopers’ if it Was Released in 2017,” Vice, March 23, 2017
• Morgan Knibble, “The Atomic Soldiers,” The New York Times, February 12, 2019
• Phil Hoad, “How We Made Starship Troopers,” The Guardian UK, January 22, 2018
• “New Report Finds Nuclear Weapons and Related Systems increasingly Vulnerable to Cyberattack,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, September 26, 2018
• Tom Breihan, “The Grisly, Goofy Starship Troopers Played Dumb to Make Hollywood Look Even Dumber,” Deadspin, November 20, 2015
• “1974 U.S. War Game Launched 54 Nuclear Weapons in Iran to “Save” Country from Soviet Invasion, According to Declassified Document in New National Security Archive Publication,” National Security Archive, December 15, 2015
• Paul Bracken, The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger, and the New Power Politics, 2012
• Will Saetren and Geoff Wilson, “Could America Really Win a “Limited” Nuclear War?,” The National Interest, February 18, 2017
• Will Saetren, “Five Facts about a Controversial Nuclear Weapon,” War on the Rocks, August 10, 2017

Other Nuclear Pop Culture References

Deux Ex Atomica: Anthropology and the Bomb: an amazing collection of atomic popular culture and terrific analysis by Martin Pfeiffer, a PhD candidate studying anthropology and nuclear history.

LearnWMD.com: this is a terrific website created by podcast guest Jamie Withorne dedicated to better understanding weapons of mass destruction issues to help benefit scholars, students, and policymakers in the field. It hopes to provide a foundation to promote further collaborative work while simultaneously inspiring younger generations and new voices to get involved in the field.

The Nuclear Spin Cycle: a blog and newsletter by Dr. Natasha Bajema. Also check out her podcast Authors of Mass Destruction, which brings together authors and nuke experts to talk about how to write good fiction and get the facts right at the same time.

Bombshelltoe: Bombshelltoe invites  the public to explore how nuclear issues are connected to society’s most pressing conversations

CONELRAD: great site with a ton of Cold War nuclear history, including features on Duck and Cover, Atomic Cafe, and civil defense, and more

Atomic Hobo podcast: weekly podcast on how the United Kingdom and others prepared for nuclear war. Hosted by journalist Julie McDowell.

Arms Control Wonk: website and podcast by the nuclear experts at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.