One dreary Tuesday, Leó Szilárd took a walk. Crossing the street, he realized that nuclear reactions could be maintained by the neutrons they themselves produced. A self-sustaining nuclear reactor became a reality nine years later, and the bomb in another three. This issue, we watch dominoes fall in human lives, across the oceans and under cities. They even crash the stock market. The end result? It’s hard to say—which is kind of the point.

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Celebrating the Relationship Between Science and Illustration
A conversation with Society of Illustrators executive director Arabelle Liepold -
The Extraordinary, Imperiled Science at the End of the Earth
Firing experts in Antarctica couldn’t come at a worse time -
Breaking a Cycle of Apocalypse
John Larison’s new novel The Ancients suggests some societies are built for cataclysm -
An Earthy Fallen Star
The strange mushroom that puffs life into forests around the world. -
Inside an Exploded Star
Cassiopeia A gets a close-up.