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On July 16, 1945, in a New Mexico desert, the Trinity Test ushered in the Nuclear Age. No other piece of technology has penetrated the American consciousness like the nuclear bomb and found a place in everything from culture to medicine. This podcast explores how nuclear science has impacted and changed our world in both beneficial and destructive ways. We explore the intersection of nuclear science and society using interviews with historians, policymakers, experts in their fields, and first-hand accounts to weave a picture of your nuclear life.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · August 2026
My Nuclear Life turns nuclear history into Arts material through technology, ethics, memory, and creative practice.
My Nuclear Life gives the Arts shelf a science history show with a sharper brief than the category usually gets. Shelley Lesher treats the nuclear age as culture, not just policy or technology.
A Marie Curie goth-rock album awaits if you like your nuclear history with unexpected guests.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A measured look at how nuclear risk reaches far beyond warheads.
My Nuclear Life moves from nuclear threat reduction into the practical problem of keeping dangerous material contained. Shelley Lesher and Matthias Grosse Perdekamp trace the Budapest Memorandum, the transfer of nuclear arsenals from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, and the…
A patient Curie portrait where songcraft, labor, and history stay closely intertwined.
Marie Curie comes through here less as a fixed icon than as a working practice: research, labor, grief, and the burden of turning history into song.
A steady nuclear-history conversation about expertise, duty, and the burden of speaking up.
Don Howard and Shelley Lesher raise a hard question with real historical weight: when scientists enter policy, are they overreaching, or doing what their expertise requires?
A wartime computing history that follows the machines back to the people who made them useful.
Early computing comes across less as a neat invention tale than a wartime logistics story: Los Alamos calculations, the Goldsteins wiring switches by hand, and the slow rise of ENIAC and EDVAC as tools that expanded what large-scale science could do.
A hidden engineering story that ties plutonium, oral history, and cleanup into patient, uneasy history.
Hanford comes across as a hidden engineering story in the desert, built to do its work and keep out of sight. Robert Franklin, the archivist and oral historian for the Hanford Collection, helps Shelley Lesher widen the frame beyond the machines themselves and into the personal…
RAND's games become a sharp look at what abstraction leaves out.
John Emery's conversation with Shelley Lesher treats 1950s RAND wargaming as more than a bit of Cold War history. It becomes a way to ask what gets lost when moral judgment is translated into rules, variables, and simulated choices.
A disciplined fusion conversation that treats technical limits as the main story.
Shelley Lesher and Michael Laughlin keep the focus on engineering, not spectacle. Laughlin brings more than 30 years of fusion research and long experience at ITER in southern France, and the discussion keeps returning to the work that makes the field real: vacuums, brazing,…
Loose, lore-heavy Star Wars conversation.
Host Shelley Lesher discusses nuclear-themed Christmas gift ideas with nuclear physicist Kelly Chipps, exploring items that blend destructive imagery with everyday utility.
This episode features an interview with Nathan Radke about the role of Cold War airplanes, particularly bombers, in nuclear warfare and historical operations like Operation Chromedome.
This episode features Nobel laureate Art McDonald discussing his groundbreaking discovery of neutrino oscillations, which solved the solar neutrino problem and revealed neutrinos have mass.
This episode features an interview with the founder and lead tour guide of ChernobylX, discussing the impact of the Chernobyl disaster on people in Ukraine and providing updates on the exclusion zone.
This episode discusses the revival of the baby tooth study with Harvard professor Marc Weisskopf, exploring how environmental factors affect neurological health using rediscovered teeth samples.
This episode introduces a partnership with the Stanley Center for Peace and Security to explore Georgia's nuclear legacy through conversations with Georgian scientists, starting with background on the country and its nuclear history.
This episode features an interview with author Lucy Santos about her new book 'Chain Reactions: The Hopeful History of Uranium', exploring the human and humorous aspects of uranium's history.
This episode discusses the 40th anniversary of the bleak nuclear war docudrama 'Threads' with author Bob Mielke, exploring its cultural impact and his new book on the film.
This episode explores the concept of the third nuclear age, discussing the deterioration of major power relations and arms control, with expert Ankit Panda providing historical context and analysis.
This episode features an interview with Istvan Hargittai about his book 'Judging Edward Teller', exploring the complex personality and legacy of nuclear physicist Edward Teller beyond his public image.
This episode explores the Diefenbunker, a Cold War bunker built to protect the Canadian government during nuclear war, featuring discussions with experts and podcasters about its history and civil defense implications.
This episode explores Jimmy Carter's nuclear Navy background and how it influenced his presidency, featuring an interview with biographer Jonathan Alter.
This episode features an interview with Kai Bird, co-author of the Pulitzer-winning biography 'American Prometheus' about J.
The podcast discusses creative ideas for communicating nuclear waste disposal dangers to future generations, including using Lou Reed's music as a deterrent.
This episode commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster by re-releasing an interview with author Adam Higginbotham about his book on the tragedy, while also sharing personal connections to astronaut Ronald McNair through university physics department discoveries.
The hosts and guests discuss nuclear war movies, Netflix trends, and engage in humorous banter about social cues and professionalism.
This episode explores Jimmy Carter's early nuclear Navy experiences and their influence on his presidency through an interview with biographer Jonathan Alter.
This episode announces a contest for nuclear waste storage ideas and promotes a free documentary premiere about a nuclear bomb thought experiment in Toronto.
This episode features interviews with two Georgian physicists discussing nuclear security challenges and scientific roles during and after the Soviet era.
This episode features an interview with Nobel laureate Dr.
This episode explores and rates historical doomsday devices, focusing on their destructive potential, development, and risks, starting with Cold War-era defensive systems like those proposed by Nicholas Christophoulos.
This episode examines whether the National Ignition Facility's fusion breakthrough represents a major advance for clean energy or has other implications, featuring astrophysicist Bob Rosner.
This episode explores the origin story of NORAD's Santa Tracker, tracing it back to a 1955 misprinted newspaper ad that connected children to a secret military hotline.
This episode follows up on a nuclear physics conference where speakers discussed nuclear threats, security, and the responsibility of physicists regarding nuclear technologies.
This episode explores the U.S.
This episode features nuclear physicist Kelly Chipps discussing her varied daily work in nuclear physics, from conducting experiments and operating accelerators to building detectors and using specialized equipment like a dosimeter watch.
This episode explores the Black Sea Experiment, a pivotal moment in U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms control during the Cold War, focusing on technical cooperation and treaty negotiations.
This episode discusses the U.S.
This episode introduces the Black Sea experiment through an oral history project, focusing on key figures like Frank von Hippel and Tom Cochran who were involved in nuclear verification efforts with Soviet scientists during the Gorbachev era.
This episode explores the origin of elements in the universe through nuclear astrophysics, featuring an interview with Dr.
This episode explores the inevitability of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion through an interview with author Adam Higginbotham, discussing NASA's risk calculations and parallels with the Chernobyl disaster.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
This episode explores how nuclear chemist Cody Folden used forensic techniques to analyze a plutonium sample from the Manhattan Project, revealing its history through chemical contaminants and scientific methods.
This episode explores Cold War childhood experiences, focusing on nuclear-themed toys and the rigid gender roles promoted during that era to maintain societal stability.
This episode explores the challenges of nuclear waste disposal, focusing on how to mark deep geologic repositories and handle transuranic elements from decommissioned nuclear weapons.
This episode explores the controversial linear non-threshold model of radiation, its origins with Herman Mueller, and how it continues to influence environmental and nuclear policy despite being debunked.
This episode explores the St.
This episode features an interview with Miss America 2023 Grace Stanke, a nuclear engineering student, discussing how to make the nuclear industry more appealing to recruit future talent.
This episode explores the journey of physicist Frank von Hippel from grassroots activism to becoming a leading figure in nuclear arms control and citizen science.
This episode features Jim Burkhart sharing his firsthand experience witnessing the Starfish Prime nuclear test in 1962, part of Operation Dominic's high-altitude tests.
This episode explores nuclear literature with expert Daniel Cordell, discussing how it portrays the end of the world as a secular apocalypse.
Games make the weight felt.
Fusion finally gets its turn by listener request.
March 2, 2022 gives this one its pulse.
Curie drove an x-ray truck.
A hard question gets things moving.
ENIAC enters the story under wraps.
Hanford hides in plain sight.
An interview with an anthropologist discussing nuclear weapons, social justice, and the Freedom of Information Act.
An interview with Richard Rhodes about building the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project.
An interview with historian Richard Rhodes about the early days of the Manhattan Project and the building of its infrastructure.
Host Shelley Lesher interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes about the history of nuclear science from its beginnings through the Manhattan Project.
An interview with expert Richard Nephew on the history and use of sanctions to combat nuclear ambitions, focusing on the Iran nuclear deal.
This episode explores the history and impact of radium therapy as a precursor to modern nuclear medicine, featuring an interview with a historian of science.
This episode discusses Project Chariot, a Cold War-era plan to use nuclear bombs to create a harbor in Alaska, and the coalition that stopped it.
An interview with Dr.