Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
As gatekeepers to the development of nuclear weapons, physicists have a right to a seat at the table in deciding what role these weapons have in a post-cold-war world.
The question of replacing the UK Trident submarines involves science, technology, national security and international policy. But before the vote, did parliament have access to crucial information? Did the Ministry of Defence?
Despite 15 years of turbulent change, 'brain drain' and a shortage of research funds, Russian science has survived, although in a much diminished state. International investment and collaboration over the next ten years could bring it back from the brink.