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Weird and Wild World War 2 and Cold War Ideas
Today we dive into some of the many crazy ideas that the US and UK had for helping the fight in WW2 and the Cold WarSources:
Bender, Jeremy. “During the Cold War, the UK Designed Nuclear Land Mines That Were Reliant on Chickens.” Business Insider, November 13, 2016. https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-developed-chicken-warmed-nuclear-landmines-2016-11.
Eschner, Kat. “The CIA Experimented on Animals in the 1960s Too. Just Ask ‘Acoustic Kitty.’” Smithsonian.com, August 8, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cia-experimented-animals-1960s-too-just-ask-acoustic-kitty-180964313/.
Hawking, Tom. The CIA once trained cats to be Cold War Spies, March 13, 2026. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/2026-03/2026-03-13_popsci.com-the_cia_once_trained_cats_to_be_cold_war_spies.pdf.
Kalb, Marvin. “Dateline Moscow: The Cuban Missile Crisis Reporting from the Soviet Capital about Seven Days That Changed the World.” ReVista, February 27, 2026. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/dateline-moscow-the-cuban-missile-crisis-reporting-from-the-soviet-capital-about-seven-days-that-changed-the-world/.
Martin, Keith. “The Saga of the Bird-Brained Bombers.” NIST, March 4, 2025. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/saga-bird-brained-bombers.
Nakamura, Pedro. “Project Iceworm: A Cold War Plan to Hide Nukes under Ice Explains Greenland’s Distrust of Trump.” Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2026. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-02-06/project-iceworm-u-s-cold-war-plan-to-hide-nukes-in-greenland.
“New View of the ‘City under the Ice’ - NASA Science.” NASA, February 10, 2026. https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/new-view-of-the-city-under-the-ice-153616/.
“Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, History of Strategic Air Command 1 July 1975-31 December 1976, Historical Study No. 161, Volume I, 15 July 1976, Top Secret, Excised Copy, Excerpt.” National Security Archive. Accessed 2026. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/20805-27.
Stromberg, Joseph. “B.F. Skinner’s Pigeon-Guided Rocket.” Smithsonian.com, August 18, 2011. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/bf-skinners-pigeon-guided-rocket-53443995/.
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By Megan Tobias, Trevor Tobias, and JasonToday we dive into some of the many crazy ideas that the US and UK had for helping the fight in WW2 and the Cold WarSources:
Bender, Jeremy. “During the Cold War, the UK Designed Nuclear Land Mines That Were Reliant on Chickens.” Business Insider, November 13, 2016. https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-developed-chicken-warmed-nuclear-landmines-2016-11.
Eschner, Kat. “The CIA Experimented on Animals in the 1960s Too. Just Ask ‘Acoustic Kitty.’” Smithsonian.com, August 8, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cia-experimented-animals-1960s-too-just-ask-acoustic-kitty-180964313/.
Hawking, Tom. The CIA once trained cats to be Cold War Spies, March 13, 2026. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/2026-03/2026-03-13_popsci.com-the_cia_once_trained_cats_to_be_cold_war_spies.pdf.
Kalb, Marvin. “Dateline Moscow: The Cuban Missile Crisis Reporting from the Soviet Capital about Seven Days That Changed the World.” ReVista, February 27, 2026. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/dateline-moscow-the-cuban-missile-crisis-reporting-from-the-soviet-capital-about-seven-days-that-changed-the-world/.
Martin, Keith. “The Saga of the Bird-Brained Bombers.” NIST, March 4, 2025. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/saga-bird-brained-bombers.
Nakamura, Pedro. “Project Iceworm: A Cold War Plan to Hide Nukes under Ice Explains Greenland’s Distrust of Trump.” Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2026. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-02-06/project-iceworm-u-s-cold-war-plan-to-hide-nukes-in-greenland.
“New View of the ‘City under the Ice’ - NASA Science.” NASA, February 10, 2026. https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/new-view-of-the-city-under-the-ice-153616/.
“Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, History of Strategic Air Command 1 July 1975-31 December 1976, Historical Study No. 161, Volume I, 15 July 1976, Top Secret, Excised Copy, Excerpt.” National Security Archive. Accessed 2026. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/20805-27.
Stromberg, Joseph. “B.F. Skinner’s Pigeon-Guided Rocket.” Smithsonian.com, August 18, 2011. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/bf-skinners-pigeon-guided-rocket-53443995/.