An assortment of American nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.[USAF]

The Doomsday Clock has never been closer to midnight than it is now

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

In 1947, a group of former Manhattan Project scientists came up with the Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical indicator of the threats to humanity from unchecked scientific and technological advances.

The clock is now closer to midnight than it has ever been.

The implications of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still reverberating around the world when American physicist Hyman Goldsmith and artist Martyl Langsdorf got together to design a cover for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists—a non-profit organization that studies how to reduce human threats to existence.

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More from Front Lines

• The U.S., Britain and the WW II bombing campaign in Europe
• War graves, battlefield tours and Canadian Steve Douglas’s little shop of horrors
• Indigenous soldier to be commemorated with plaque in Flanders

A Distant Early Warning Line station at Point Lay, Alaska. [Wikimedia]

Cold War continental defence

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

More than 75 years ago, a defence agreement between the United States and Canada carved a path for an ambitious Cold War remote lookout and communications network meant to protect North American aerospace.

The initiative to expand North America’s air defence architecture was announced on Feb. 12, 1947, and eventually led to the creation of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line.

The DEW Line stretched for 4,800 kilometres with more than 60 crewed radar stations, making it a potent deterrent to Soviet threats. It was referred to as a “triumph of scientific design and logistical planning” by the Arctic Institute of North America.

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More from Military Milestones

• Remembering Canada’s first national aerobatics team—and its legendary aircraft
• How Canadian volunteer sailors helped win the Battle of the Atlantic
• Kosmic debris

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