The first people to step on to the surface of Mars won't arrive aboard the chemical-fueled rockets that delivered Apollo 11 to the Moon — they simply don't provide enough thrust to get to the Red Planet before exposing their crews to months of dangerous space radiation. Instead, NASA is turning to long-ignored nuclear-thermal rocket technology to deliver the first Martian explorers into history. Read More >>

Most of us are content keeping hackers away with a firewall and decent password. But the Pentagon isn't nearly content, and in a new report, insists we should keep our nuclear arsenal ready for Internet retaliation. What could go wrong? Read More >>

On July 16, 1945, the US Army destroyed a small part of New Mexico by testing the first nuclear bomb in human history, the most powerful weapon of all time. It then proceeded to blow up 1,054 more. Read More >>

An interview with a former US Air Force physicist has come up with the astonishing claim that America planned to set off a nuclear bomb on the Moon as the ultimate display of technical and military might. Read More >>

Scientists have given some thought as to how we'll defend ourselves when a giant asteroid inevitably heads our way and solutions range from paintballs to nukes. A team at Iowa State University has settled on the latter, and they've got plans for ship to do it waiting in the wings. Read More >>

Fifty five years ago today, the US' Department of Defense launched a nuclear missile test in Nevada, as they would hundreds of times again. But this time, five guys and a cameraman were placed right underneath the massive atomic explosion. Why? Read More >>

Dropping one nuclear bomb is terrible enough—cities leveled, populations vaporised. Horrible enough on its own—but what if you dropped 183.000? Goodbye, USA. So what about obliterating the moon? We've got it. Read More >>

Bad news if you like Earth unthreatened by crazy people wielding nukes: Iran just claimed significant advancements to its nuclear weapons program. Read More >>

You might think Armageddon was just a lot of Bruce Willis sobbing and Aerosmith-fueled sex, but there was actually some truth in there! If an enormous space rock ever heads our way, we're already planning on nuking it to hell. Here's how. Read More >>

New analysis suggests North Korea clandestinely tested two nuclear weapons in 2010. If it's true, it would double the number of known tests hailing from the country and could mean serious nuclear warhead development is underway. Read More >>

I thought writing for Gizmodo was tough! Apparently I have nothing to worry about, and neither do you, unless you're like Wesley Baptiste, who's training to disarm old nuclear warheads for a living. Don't drop that wrench. Read More >>

What do you do when you've run out of things to spend money on, and everyone already uses your software? How about developing a nuclear plant with China? Sure! Bill Gates is doing just that, the AP reports. For science? Read More >>

Call me paranoid, but I spend nearly every waking moment contemplating whether or not I'd survive a massive nuclear strike. I mean, weirder stuff has happened, guys! Luckily we can now pinpoint our chances with the precision of Google Maps. Read More >>

A new report on nuclear proliferation is—surprise!—kind of terrifying, revealing some disconcerting facts about nuclear warheads, who has them, and what we don't know. The bottom line: holy hell, we've built a lot of these things. Read More >>