Nuclear Historian Reacts to Movies | Science vs Fiction

In this episode of Science vs Fiction, nuclear historian and Stevens Institute of Technology associate professor Alex Wellerstein breaks down and fact-checks iconic scenes involving atomic weapons, nuclear disasters, and radioactivity in movies and pop culture. Oppenheimer, Chernobyl, Fallout, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible: how realistic are these nuclear explosions? What really happens during a nuclear disaster? Could AI take over global nuclear arsenals? Why do we all think radiation glows green? Can you survive a nuke in a fridge? And do those scenes get the science of nuclear energy and radioactivity right? Alex Wellerstein answers all these questions and reveals what movies and shows get right, what they get completely wrong, and why our culture remains both fascinated and terrified by the nuclear age. Thank you to Alex Wellerstein. Make sure to read his latest book, a great resource on nuclear history and the American atomic age: https://alexwellerstein.com/writing/b... ******************************** 00:00 Introduction 00:27 Fallout 03:01 Chernobyl 05:40 The Wolverine 08:07 Madam Secretary 11:40 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 14:44 The Simpsons 16:04 Oppenheimer 20:30 Barefoot Gen 23:28 The Martian 25:24 Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning 27:26 Final words ********************************