Jeff Brumfield
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
AI and the Environment
These are just two super different engineering cultures. You know, and the way I've come to think about it is Silicon Valley loves to go fast and break things. The nuclear industry has to move very, very, very slowly because nothing can ever break.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-25-2025 6PM EDT
On Tuesday, the producers of Othello on Broadway announced that about 2,000 New York area school kids will be seeing the hottest show in town for free because of a partnership with the New York Department of Education, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and several anonymous donors. In addition, a limited number of $49 student rush tickets will be available for each performance.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-25-2025 6PM EDT
With tickets that top out at $921, Othello has been setting box office records for a play. Last week, it took in over $2.5 million. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-18-2025 4PM EDT
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams climbed aboard a capsule built by Elon Musk's company SpaceX and undocked from the station early this morning. They're now on their way home following more than nine months in space. Williams and Wilmore arrived in June of last year aboard an experimental capsule built by Boeing.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-18-2025 4PM EDT
After that capsule experienced technical problems, NASA decided to send it back to Earth empty. The space agency added Williams and Wilmore to the regular space station crew, whose rotation is now complete. In recent months, President Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly claimed that the duo was deliberately stranded by the Biden administration.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-18-2025 4PM EDT
Former NASA leaders and other astronauts have disputed that claim. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-18-2025 4AM EST
Over the weekend, several employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration told NPR they've been hastily rehired after being fired last Thursday. Sources inside the agency said hundreds were fired at first, but in a statement sent late Sunday night, a Department of Energy spokesperson said that fewer than 50 employees ultimately lost their jobs.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-18-2025 4AM EST
Those jobs were in, quote, primarily administrative and clerical roles. Members of Congress were alarmed after learning of the mass layoffs at the agency, which oversees America's nuclear warheads and combats nuclear terrorism. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-29-2025 8PM EST
In Nevada, nearly 1,000 feet underground is a network of tunnels where American scientists studied nuclear weapons. David Funk is one of them. He says these shafts were dug for underground nuclear testing.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-29-2025 8PM EST
Subcritical experiments test the plutonium in nuclear bombs without setting them off. It's the way America has done it for more than 30 years, but some fear that could soon change. China and Russia may be preparing to test their weapons. And several people close to the Trump administration have also said that the U.S. should be ready to test again. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-13-2025 8AM EDT
It's not clear whether EPA plans to get rid of these rules or weaken them. Those details should come later.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-13-2025 8AM EDT
Zeldin said the agency will reconsider rules that limit climate pollution from power plants and from cars and trucks, also regulations that limit soot and mercury in the air. Other rules that Zelden claims are hurting the economy and costing trillions of dollars. But that leaves out the fact that pollution also costs the country, you know, and health costs and cleanup.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-03-2025 5PM EDT
Clooney and his partner Grant Heslov took their 2005 screenplay and adapted it for the stage. Both the film and play look at journalist Edward R. Murrow as he took on Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare in the 1950s. There are a certain kind of people wired a certain kind of way who know there's a story behind the story, if you're bold enough to search for it.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-03-2025 5PM EDT
Even before opening, the play has caused a sensation. For the last two weeks, it's brought in around $3.3 million. That's a record for a play on Broadway with tickets going for as much as $799. It runs through June. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-02-2025 6PM EST
The small probe was built by Firefly Aerospace. Early Sunday morning, it left its orbit around the moon and began its descent to the lunar surface. After a nail-biting few minutes, mission control confirmed touchdown. IMU reports lunar gravity and it is stable. Y'all select the landing. We're on the moon.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-02-2025 6PM EST
The landing makes the company the second commercial venture to land on the moon, and more private probes are on their way. In just a few days, the firm Intuitive Machines is set to make a landing attempt near the South Pole, and in May, a Japanese company will also try to get its probe to the surface of the moon. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-07-2025 8PM EST
The Argentine-born Jewish conductor and former piano prodigy resigned from his post at the Berlin State Opera in 2023, but is still committed to performing with the ensemble he co-founded with the late Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said in 1999, the West Eastern Divan Orchestra.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-07-2025 8PM EST
Baron Boehm said the orchestra, featuring Arab and Israeli musicians, and its school are his most important responsibility. The 82-year-old continues to teach at the musical academy he established in Berlin and plans to conduct the orchestra on tour in August, health permitting. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-10-2025 4PM EDT
Others worked in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The space agency says it plans more layoffs in the near future to comply with an executive order from President Trump. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-10-2025 4PM EDT
Stanley Kubrick's film 2001 A Space Odyssey made the Blue Danube Waltz synonymous with space. Now it's becoming a reality. When the Vienna Symphony plays the Johann Strauss Waltz live on the evening of May 31st, it will be transmitted by electromagnetic wave at the speed of light from a deep space antenna in Cebrero, Spain.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-10-2025 4PM EDT
According to the European Space Agency, the sound will reach NASA's Voyager 1 in deep space 23 hours later. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-10-2025 4PM EDT
Dr. Kate Calvin had served as NASA's chief scientist since 2022. Her job was to advise senior leadership on the space agency's many scientific missions. She also served as the agency's senior advisor on climate change and was a leading government climate scientist. Calvin was one of 23 employees at NASA who lost their jobs, according to a statement from the agency.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-07-2025 3PM EDT
Those patients not only had a better overall survival if they were more physically active, they actually looked like they had a slightly better overall survival compared to the general population.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-11-2025 5PM EDT
The proposed cuts were first reported by The Washington Post and Ars Technica. They say that NASA's Science Missions Directorate, which runs everything from Mars rovers to the James Webb Space Telescope, would see funding slashed nearly in half, according to the White House budget proposal. Casey Dreyer is chief of space policy at the Planetary Society.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-11-2025 5PM EDT
The president's budget is only at a draft stage and will be finalized later this spring. Ultimately, Congress will set the funding level for the space agency. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-07-2025 4PM EST
The robotic lander, built by the company Intuitive Machines, sent one last picture before shutting down, an image of the gray lunar surface and planet Earth hanging on the horizon. Also visible were the lander's feet, which were supposed to be planted firmly in the lunar soil but were instead pointed skyward.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-07-2025 4PM EST
This is the second landing attempt for Intuitive Machines and the second time the lander has tipped over. A touchdown last year went wonky after a landing leg collapsed. In a press conference, CEO Steve Ultimus stood by the design.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-07-2025 4PM EST
Intuitive Machines is one of several companies trying to land stably on the moon. NASA hopes they might one day deliver supplies to astronauts. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Yeah, I went out to the Nevada National Security Site. It used to be the Nevada test site where America tested its nuclear warheads. That hasn't happened since the 1990s, but scientists are still studying nuclear weapons down there in a top-secret lab that's deep underground. To get there, you have to step into this mining elevator. And it drops you nearly a thousand feet below the desert.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
At the bottom is a network of tunnels that's been carved out of an ancient lake bed. David Funk is overseeing upgrades to the labs, and he told me these tunnels were originally dug for underground nuclear detonations.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Well, subcritical experiments are experiments that use nuclear weapons material like plutonium, but they don't trigger a runaway nuclear chain reaction. That's the reaction that gives bombs their incredible power. The data from these experiments is fed into supercomputers that calculate how nuclear weapons are doing. Basically, they're simulating blowing up nukes inside these supercomputers.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Now, in the tunnels, I spoke to Don Haynes, a nuclear weapons scientist from Los Alamos National Lab. He says this whole system works.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
But of course, Haynes is just a scientist. It's the politicians and generals who are going to decide whether the U.S. conducts another test.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
So during the first Trump administration, there was some discussion of testing. And over the summer, his former national security advisor wrote that the U.S. should conduct a full nuclear test under Trump 2.0. And then there's Project 2025, a conservative agenda whose authors have close ties to Trump. It also says the president should have the option to do a test if he needs to.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Well, Jeff, why would he need to? Well, as we just heard, the scientists don't need to test, but there may be political reasons. You know, other countries might threaten the U.S. with nuclear weapons or the president might need to display his resolve. And one way to do that would be to conduct a test. So what would be the consequences of a return to testing?
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Arms control experts say this would be a huge mistake for America. And the reason is kind of interesting. Here's Jamie Kwong with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Up First from NPR
Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
And that's because the U.S. has done well over a thousand nuclear tests, while China has only done 45. So China will gain a lot more knowledge from test 46 than the U.S. will from its next test.