Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 12th 2026

Posted: 13th January 2026

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January 12, 2026

Outside the COP30 venue in Belém, Brazil. (“Around the venue” by UNclimatechange, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

COP30 ended without a clear fossil fuel roadmap, but new initiatives emerged

“Does it make sense to continue holding massive international summits if the core of the problem—the continued use of oil, gas, and coal—continues to be systematically avoided?,” asks María de los Ángeles Orfila, the Bulletin’s climate change editorial fellow. Read more.

Algorithms of misperception: Managing nuclear risk in an AI world

The new nuclear age is shaped by information abundance, writes Héloise Fayet, head of the Deterrence & Proliferation research program at the French Institute of International Relations. “The nuclear danger today lies less in the number of weapons deployed than in the ways leaders and societies perceive, misperceive, and amplify those realities through the information systems that now mediate every crisis.” This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.

Trump goes rogue against Venezuela and lays out his imperialistic goals

The Trump administration doesn’t fight drugs in Venezuela. It tries to lay the groundwork for an imperialist America, writes Bulletin associate editor François Diaz-Maurin in a new opinion piece. Read more.

BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

The Bulletin welcomes 2026 board fellows

The Bulletin is honored to welcome Mari Faines and Suzi Ragheb as 2026 board fellows. Faines is a policy expert who has worked at the intersection of nuclear nonproliferation policy and social justice issues, and Ragheb is a policy practitioner and independent researcher specializing in digital governance and cross-cultural tech policy. Read more.

BULLETIN EVENT

Hear from a major American author, a UN consultant, a Grammy-winning musician, and the Bulletin’s President and CEO

The upcoming Bulletin virtual program, “Art + Science: Harnessing the Power of Art and Storytelling,” will focus on harnessing the power of art in drawing attention to global threats. Tune in on January 15 at 11:15 a.m. CT / 12:15 p.m. ET. Register here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“AI-powered enhancement has a tendency to hallucinate facial details leading to an enhanced image that may be visually clear, but that may also be devoid of reality with respect to biometric identification.”

— Hany Farid, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, “AI images and internet rumors spread confusion about ICE agent involved in shooting,” NPR

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