On the heels of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Japanese anti-nuclear advocacy group Nihon Hidankyō, Naomi Satoh returns to discuss her in-progress illustrated novel based on personal and familial oral histories gathered from survivors of the 1945 bombings over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Since the 1970s, physicists have worked on developing nuclear fusion as a clean, carbon-free, inexhaustible fuel source. Essentially building a big star on Earth, the United States and other nuclear powers have also used the technology to make nuclear weapons exponentially more powerful. Princeton physicist Stewart Prager joins the podcast to talk about the intersection between nuclear fusion, energy production and arms control.

On a new episode of WGLT's Twelve Thousand Bombs podcast, three astrophysicists in training discuss how they're processing the science, policy and politics of nuclear weapons leading up to the 2024 election.

On a new episode of WGLT's Twelve Thousand Bombs podcast, you'll hear about the U.S. spending $400 billion on developing and testing weapons designed to neutralize an attack. All signs point to a fool's errand, particularly in the event of a nuclear strike.

J. Robert Oppenheimer chose a remote spot in south central New Mexico to build and test the world's first atomic bomb. The people who lived in the surrounding Tularosa Basin were not asked for permission or warned of the risk posed to their health and safety. Nearly 80 years later, proposed legislation giving one-time payments to New Mexicans who contracted cancer as a consequence of nuclear testing has been allowed to expire, blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson. The congressional stalemate comes as testing programs ramp up and the world braces for the possibility of nuclear war. Tina Cordova of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Association joins Lauren Warnecke and Matt Caplan.

On this episode of "Twelve Thousand Bombs," you'll hear from climatologist Lili Xia of Rutgers University. Xia was the leading author on a landmark 2022 research paper in Nature Food detailing climate models and the potential for widespread famine in the aftermath of a nuclear conflict.

In the Sept. 10 presidential debate between candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, nuclear weapons were mentioned just once. But President Joe Biden has said the threat of nuclear war is as high as it's ever been. Our new podcast explores the history, science and policy of the United States' nuclear program—and why we should be talking about it.

Illinois State University physics professor Matt Caplan wants to raise public awareness about the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons, efforts to disarm the nine countries who have them and accountability for harm caused by radioactive fallout.