My Image

Is Hiroshima Still Radioactive? Nuclear Explosions & the Environment

I'll be giving a lecture titled, "Is Hiroshima Still Radioactive? Nuclear Explosions & the Environment" in Dublin on Tuesday February 20th at 17:00. The lecture is sponsored by University College Dublin Japan Group and the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. The talk is in coordination with an exhibition of posters from the Hiroshima Peace Museum that will be exhibited at the Belfield Campus of UCD until March 4.Details, and a link to register can be found

Read More

Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad: Animals Return to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

I've just published a short article at Arcadia, an online journal at the Environment and Society Portal of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, a joint initiative of LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum.The article examines the discourse around large mammals being seen in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), especially in the heavily contaminated Red Forest area. When the mammals are wolves, foxes, or other non-human animals, invariably the discourse is foregrounding the

Read More

Nuclear Hotseat Interview

I was interviewed by Libbe HaLevy on her podcast, Nuclear Hotseat, at the beginning of the month. The interview focused on my book Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha. We talked about a lot of things, including, the medical model of harm from radiation (the Life Span Study) at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima, and how it contributed to obscuring harm from internalized radioactive particles from fallout, about how nuclear weapon states select those who will be irradiated by

Read More

What the F#ck is the Story with the Radioactive Wastewater at Fukushima?

How safe is the release of Fukushima nuclear wastewater? The IAEA, and the governments of Japan and South Korea have declared the releases safe. People all around the Pacific Ocean are protesting the releases however. Where does the nuclear wastewater come from? What is in it?Because the melted nuclear cores (corium) of reactors 1, 2 & 3 at Fukushima Dai'ichi are somewhere underneath the three reactor buildings, having melted out, workers at TEPCO have been pouring cold water on the corium

Read More

Podcast Interview: The Comfortable Spot

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Ken Sweeney on his podcast "The Comfortable Spot." Ken interviews folks from all walks of life about their work and journey. We had an engaged discussion about my path from Chicago to Hiroshima, issues around the nuclear attack in Hiroshima, issues raised in my book Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha, and the use or lack of use of nuclear weapons in warfare—including in the current war in Ukraine. You can find the interview on any podcast app, and

Read More

Video of My Book Talk at the University of Chicago in October

I was honored to give a book talk on the 19th of October this year at the Unviersity of Chicago, sponsored by CEAS (Center for East Asian Studies) and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Hyde Park. The talk was hosted by the legendary scholar Norma Field, and included my good friend and former colleague Hiroko Takahashi as the discussant. The video of the whole event is available

Read More

When is a Nuclear Test Actually an Attack? Cold War Nuclear Testing and Downwind Fallout Clouds

I was unable to attend the SHOT conference in New Orleans last week, and so I sent in my presentation via Vimeo. I'm posting it here for anyone who wants to see it.The title is, "When is a nuclear test actually an attack: Cold War nuclear testing and downwind fallout clouds." I argue that radioactive fallout from nuclear detonations, especially of thermonuclear weapons (H-bombs) was strategized as a means of attacking enemy combatants and populations in imagined #nuclear war scenarios, but when

Read More

Book Talk October 19

I'll be presenting a book talk on Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha online on October 19 (US), as part of the East Asia by the Book! series hosted by the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore. My good friend and former colleague Dr. Hiroko Takahashi will be Discussant. We are really honored to have the event hosted by the esteemed Dr. Norma Fields. I'll give a presentation outlining the major arguments and findings of the book. These

Read More

Global Hibakusha on Twitter