The recent and terrifying false missile alert in Hawaii has everyone asking, "What if it happened here?" While statistically, your hometown is probably not a nuclear target, historian Alex Wellerstein's NUKEMAP shows you what it would look like.

The advent of the atomic bomb dramatically changed the course of history and, even today, looms as a threat for global catastrophe. From 1956 to 1963, Britain tested nuclear weapons at Maralinga, in South Australia, running hundreds of different experiments. The tests resulted in sickness and death for the local Indigenous populations, yet for many years, the fact these tests took place at all were kept secret from the Australian public.

Yesterday the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists pushed the Doomsday Clock forward to two minutes from midnight. The last time the Bulletin got this grim was in 1953, after the US and USSR tested their first hydrogen bombs.

On the morning of January 13, residents of Hawaii all received a pretty unwelcome push notification: "Ballistic Missile Threat Inbound to Hawaii. Seek Immediate Shelter. This is not a drill."

During a hearing on October 12, experts warned the US House of Representatives that an EMP bomb, likely from North Korea, could kill as many as 90 per cent of all Americans within a year. But what is an EMP bomb? And could such a weapon really be that devastating?

So, you want to build a nuclear fallout shelter. You’re not alone: The civilian bomb shelter construction industry has been steadily growing to meet demand for the past decade, with recent events igniting a full-on market boom.

Video: Back in the '50s and '60s, your home wasn't complete if you didn't have your own fallout shelter. This classic educational video shows you how to build your own.

As northeast Asia teeters on the brink of a conflict that could escalate beyond anyone’s control, it is more important than ever to be well-informed about North Korea, and move beyond the common caricatures of the country and its leader, Kim Jong-un. This is difficult when many misconceptions about North Korea perpetuate in the public consciousness.