Airs Tuesday August 8, 2023 at 10 p.m. on WKSU
Seventy-eight years ago this month, the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film 'Oppenheimer' reminds us that the nuclear age remains a fundamental fact of our lives -- even if its apocalyptic potential can seem too frightening to think about. But that’s the very barrier to reducing the risk, according to veteran emergency room physician Ira Helfand. He's a leader in the physicians' movement to prevent the greatest emergency imaginable: use of these terrible weapons. Facing the Unthinkable includes historical audio of President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis as well sound from previous films on the topic. Produced and hosted by David Freudberg, this Humankind program also addresses the clash of science and ethics for the researchers who've developed weapons of mass destruction.