Check out the recipients of the 2022 Future of Life Award at https://futureoflife.org/future-of-life-award/ Nuclear war is a terrifying existential threat, but we shouldn't only fear the blasts because the ensuing smoke is the real killer.

LEARN MORE

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

• Black carbon: groups of linked carbon atoms.
• Fallout: radioactive particles that are carried into the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion or accident and gradually fall back as dust or in precipitation.
• Jet stream: a narrow variable band of very strong predominantly westerly air currents encircling the globe several miles above the earth.
• Radiation: the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles which cause ionization.
• Weapon yield: the amount of energy released when that particular nuclear weapon is detonated, usually expressed as a TNT equivalent.

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CREDITS

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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Arcadi i Garcia Ruis | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES

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“Global Effects of Mount Pinatubo.” Nasa.gov, NASA Earth Observatory, 15 June 2001, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/1510/global-effects-of-mount-pinatubo

“Nuclear Tests--Databases and Other Material.” Johnstonsarchive.net, 2022, www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/

“NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein.” Nuclearsecrecy.com, 2013, https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Robock, Alan. “Nuclear Winter.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 1, no. 3, 16 Apr. 2010, pp. 418–427, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.45

Robock, Oman, and Stenchikov. “Nuclear Winter Revisited with a Modern Climate Model and Current Nuclear Arsenals: Still Catastrophic Consequences.” J. Geophys. Res, vol. 112, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008235

Dr. Brian Toon, Personal Communication.

Xia, Lili, et al. “Global Food Insecurity and Famine from Reduced Crop, Marine Fishery and Livestock Production due to Climate Disruption from Nuclear War Soot Injection.” Nature Food, vol. 3, no. 8, 15 Aug. 2022, pp. 586–596, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00573-0