Above is a picture of a nuclear explosion approximately one millisecond after it has begun. This picture was taken in Nevada in 1952, and you can clearly see the mysterious spikes, or strands, that hang from the bottom of the explosion. These are the results of what scientists ended up calling the Rope Trick Effect.

In the first half of 1955, the United States performed more than a dozen tests of atomic weapons in Nevada, studying the destructive power of the country's most powerful weapons. These photos, from the 44th nuclear test explosion ever performed on US soil, capture the varied effects.

On the afternoon of March 11, 1958, Ella Hudson was nine years old and visiting her cousins' home in Mars Bluff, South Carolina. After an otherwise normal school day wrapped up, Ella had the bizarre pleasure of witnessing firsthand the United States Air Force accidentally drop a nuclear weapon — with its fissile…

Never say that nuclear warfare is good for nothing. The dastardly criminal enterprise of counterfeiting fine wines took a major hit recently with the announcement of a new method for determining vintages that relies on atomic blasts.