Billionaires with big ideas are privatizing American science
Last April, President Barack Obama assembled some of the nation’s most august scientific dignitaries in the East Room of the White House. Joking that his grades in physics made him a dubious candidate for “scientist in chief,” he spoke of using technological innovation “to grow our economy” and unveiled “the next great American project”: a $100 million initiative to probe the mysteries of the human brain.
Israeli success in downing Hamas rockets draws interest
WASHINGTON — The success cited by Israel for its Iron Dome anti-missile system in its confrontation with Hamas has re-energized U.S. missile defense advocates and generated new interest in the global arms bazaar from nations like South Korea that face a short-range rocket threats from hostile neighbors.
Iran said to complete underground nuclear enrichment plant soon
WASHINGTON — Intelligence officials from several countries say Iran in recent weeks has virtually completed an underground nuclear enrichment plant, racing ahead despite international pressure and heavy economic sanctions in what experts say may be an effort to give them leverage in any negotiations with the United States and its allies.
US flights over nuclear plant gather crucial data
WASHINGTON — The first readings from U.S. data-collection flights over the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan show that the worst of the contamination has not spewed beyond the 18-mile range of highest concern established by Japanese authorities, but there is also no indication that another day of frantic efforts to cool nuclear fuel in the reactors and spent fuel pools has yielded any progress, according U.S. government officials.
Zeal for dream drove scientist in secrets case
Many people who know P. Leonardo Mascheroni describe him as a maverick and a technology zealot. Now, the Justice Department will try to prove that he is dangerous, too — a man willing to sell atomic secrets in exchange for a chance to realize his dream.
Chroniclers of<br />the atomic bomb
They risked their lives to capture on film hundreds of blinding flashes, rising fireballs and mushroom clouds.
Nuclear option on the oil spill?<br />U.S. says no thank you
The chatter began weeks ago as armchair engineers brainstormed for ways to stop the torrent of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico: What about nuking the well?
Research reactors seen as security risk
In Cambridge, Mass., at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a nuclear reactor emits an eerie blue glow 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Its fuel is 93 percent uranium 235 — the high-purity uranium it takes to energize an atom bomb and exactly what the West fears that Tehran wants to produce.
U.N. Inspectors Fear Iran Is Hiding Nuclear Plants
On Monday, International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report, saying that the country was concealing other atomic facilities.
New Missile Shield Inverts Old Cold War Thinking
The new plan that President Barack Obama laid out for a missile shield against Iran on Thursday turns Ronald Reagan’s vision of a Stars Wars system on its head: Rather than focusing first on protecting the continental United States, it shifts the immediate effort to defending Europe and the Middle East.
U.N. Says Iran Enriched More Uranium Than Reported
In their first appraisal of Iran’s nuclear program since President Obama took office, atomic inspectors have found that Iran recently understated by a third how much uranium it has enriched, UN officials said Thursday.
At U.S. Prodding, Switzerland Destroyed Kahn Network Data
The president of Switzerland stepped to a podium in Bern in May and read a statement confirming rumors that had swirled through the capital for months. The government, he acknowledged, had indeed destroyed a huge trove of computer files and other material documenting the business dealings of a family of Swiss engineers suspected of helping smuggle nuclear technology to Libya and Iran.
In Slovakia, Three Arrested After Attempt to Sell Enriched Uranium
Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian were arrested Wednesday after trying to sell highly enriched uranium, Slovak diplomats and police authorities said Thursday. The quantity, however, was far too small to make a crude warhead.
Shorts (right)
New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site Israel bombed in September no longer bears any obvious traces of what analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor.
Once Just an Inconvenience, Orbiting Junk Now a Threat
For decades, space experts have worried that a speeding bit of orbital debris might one day smash a large spacecraft into hundreds of pieces and start a chain reaction, a slow cascade of collisions that would expand for centuries, spreading chaos through the heavens.
Iran Nuclear Technology Report Reveals U.S., U.N. Policy Discord
A report released Thursday showing a slow but steady expansion of Iran’s nuclear technology has exposed a new divide between the United Nations arms inspectors and the United States and its allies over how to contain Tehran’s atomic program.
Iran Expands Nuclear Effort In Defiance of United Nations
In open defiance of the United Nations, Iran is steadily expanding its efforts to enrich uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Thursday.