Declassified: How cold war movies are blowing up atomic bomb models

March 17, 2017 --Thousands of blasts from the past are teaching nuclear physicists new lessons about old physics. Scientists and film experts are teaming up to save a treasure trove of cold war-era nuclear test footage, teetering on the brink of decomposition. By digitizing the records and applying current video analysis, the team has learned we don't know quite as much as we thought we did about atomic bombs. The United States carried out hundreds of aboveground nuclear tests between 1945 and the early 1960s, when they were banned. Recording more than 10,000 videos from various angles, the government strived to glean every last bit of scientific information possible about the deadly new technology.