Geoff Brumfiel
Geoff Brumfiel works as a senior editor and correspondent on NPR's science desk. His editing duties include science and space, while his reporting focuses on the intersection of science and national security.
From April of 2016 to September of 2018, Brumfiel served as an editor overseeing basic research and climate science. Prior to that, he worked for three years as a reporter covering physics and space for the network. Brumfiel has carried his microphone into ghost villages created by the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. He's tracked the journey of highly enriched uranium as it was shipped out of Poland. For a story on how animals drink, he crouched for over an hour and tried to convince his neighbor's cat to lap a bowl of milk.
Before NPR, Brumfiel was based in London as a senior reporter for Nature Magazine from 2007-2013. There, he covered energy, space, climate, and the physical sciences. From 2002 – 2007, Brumfiel was Nature Magazine's Washington Correspondent.
Brumfiel is the 2013 winner of the Association of British Science Writers award for news reporting on the Fukushima nuclear accident.
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Iran's nuclear program has been dealt a blow, here's an overview of the current state of its facilities. -
Reaching Iran's most fortified nuclear enrichment site is a challenge, even for the world's biggest conventional weapons. -
Satellite imagery shows trucks at two key sites the day before the American strikes, suggesting uranium could have been moved. -
If the U.S. does drop a powerful "bunker buster" bomb on a suspected underground nuclear weapons site in Iran, experts in radiation hazards say there is little risk of widespread contamination.
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So far, strikes on Iran's facilities have created limited chemical and radiological hazards. Experts say that's not likely to change even if the U.S. uses a big bomb. -
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says Iran is "marching very quickly" toward a nuclear weapon. The U.S. intelligence community says Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003. -
Since last week, Israel has been attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, along with many other targets around the country. Iran has fired hundreds of missiles in response. NPR correspondent Geoff Brumfiel has been watching all of this very closely because Israel's missile defenses have been a focus of the Trump White House. This year, President Trump requested funding from Congress for a "Golden Dome for America" — a missile defense system that would protect all of the United States. The idea comes from Israel's Iron Dome — a network of interceptor missiles stationed at points across the country. Iron Dome and related Israeli air defenses don't get every missile fired — including some launched in the past few days by Iran — but the Israeli military says it has intercepted thousands of rockets since it was built. Trying to get that kind of protection for America, though, might be a very different matter. Read more of science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel's reporting on this topic and find NPR's coverage of the Middle East here. Questions about nuclear science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
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Christopher Hanson was appointed to serve on the commission overseeing the nation's nuclear reactors during Trump's first term in 2020. -
Early satellite imagery appears to show some damage at Iran's main site. -
Besides its flights to the International Space Station and Starship program, SpaceX is deeply embedded in the Department of Defense. The feud between Elon Musk and President Trump could end all that.
