Military

In 1961, the Soviet Union detonated the biggest, most powerful nuclear bomb ever built. One of the cameramen who recorded the event said it sounded "as if the Earth has been killed."

By Patrick J. Kiger

Suicide is the fourth most common cause of death among veterans with PTSD. There are ways we can step in and help make sure these heroes don't become statistics.

By Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth

Ghost guns are guns assembled by the purchaser from parts, including unfinished frames or receivers. This makes the guns untraceable and lets buyers skip background checks.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Members of the U.S. armed forces and their loyal dogs have always had a special relationship – so special that the canine usually outranks its handler. What's behind this military tradition?

By Nathan Chandler

Hypersonic missiles, which could reach distant targets in a matter of minutes and wreak destruction with their own kinetic energy, are a potentially destabilizing threat to world peace.

By Patrick J. Kiger

U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers routinely jump out of helicopters into dangerous waters, risking their lives to save others.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Tank Town USA is just one of a few places in the country where you don't have to be in the military to pay to drive a tank.

The Manhattan Project built the city of Oak Ridge in rural Tennessee, where secret facilities produced uranium-235 for the atomic bomb.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The U.S. Air Force showed its might during this unprecedented exercise. But why?

By Cherise Threewitt

Without question, they save lives — but they aren't 100 percent failsafe.

By Jerad W. Alexander

All six countries are in the Americas.

By Dave Roos

The search team used a radar-equipped drone to locate a P-38 from the so-called "Lost Squadron" that crash-landed in Greenland in 1942. But the story doesn't end there.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The debate over the legality of 3D-printable guns rages on, but how big an issue will they turn out to be?

By Jerad W. Alexander

The ArmaLite AR-15 rifle has become a hot-button issue in the American landscape. Where did the rifle originate and how did it become so controversial?

By Jerad W. Alexander

The Trump administration wants to develop a new generation of low-yield nuclear weapons that could be used without launching an all-out nuclear war.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Exposure to this nerve agent in minuscule amounts is enough to kill several human beings.

By John Donovan

Torture was formally abolished in Europe in the 19th century, but reared its ugly head again in the 20th century. Why did it reappear and what is its future?

By Diana Brown

The increasing interest in autonomous weapons around the world is alarming scientists, and there's a growing movement to halt the development of these weapons before the technology has a chance to proliferate.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Sand turned to glass at White Sands Missile Range. What do we know today about the remnants of the world's first nuclear blast?

By Mark Mancini

Could a tiny creature called a tardigrade hold the key to slowing biological time, giving soldiers more opportunity to recover from life-threatening injuries?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Bombs are complicated to build so they aren't a common go-to method of madness for criminals. But would you know one if you saw one?

By John Donovan

Underwater military bases sound super-cool, but what are the odds they truly exist?

By Diana Brown

Self-defense is a hallmark of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But could self-defense insurance policies embolden a gun owner to shoot?

By John Donovan

HowStuffWorks explains two ways that gun owners are modifying their semi-automatic weapons to fire like automatic ones.

Puerto Rico is finally getting much-needed aid after Hurricane Maria, and much of that is coming from USNS Comfort.

By Cherise Threewitt