Despite shrinking significantly at the end of the Cold War, the world nuclear weapon arsenals continue to represent a significant threat to humanity. About 14,000 nuclear weapons are still deployed or in reserve and other 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles are ready to be launched within minutes. Recent trends indicate the risks of nuclear war may be growing with the return of great power confrontation, the modernization of existing arsenals, the abandonment of arms control agreements, the development of new types of strategic weapons, the rapid militarization of emerging technologies, and the increasing entanglement of conventional and nuclear forces. This talk will present the current nuclear crisis, discuss possible approaches to walk back from the brink, and make suggestions on what physicists can do both as scientists and informed citizens to reduce the dangers of nuclear war.
Hosts: Talia Weiss (talia.weiss@yale.edu), Chris Rostampour (chris@physicistscoalition.org)