The research paper, titled ‘Mushrooms, cranes, and the fear of planetary destruction,’ provides a rare and sobering look into children’s imaginaries regarding war and nuclear weapons. Researchers Patrícia Nabuco Martuscelli (University of Sheffield), Leonardo Bandarra (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany), Katie Salari, and Will Dalziel (UK-based charity Never Such Innocence) found that today’s children are grappling with sophisticated and often terrifying fears of total planetary destruction stemming from the risk of nuclear war.
Unlike previous generations whose fears were often contained to specific enemy nations during the Cold War, the study suggests that children view nuclear war as an existential threat to the planet itself when reflecting on war in general. The researchers utilised ‘creative methodologies,’ including drawings and poetry, part of the NSI’s archives to analyse how children present the risk of nuclear war even when asked to reflect about war in general
The researchers argue that children are not passive observers of the news; they are active ‘security subjects’ who process global threats through the lens of their own lives. The paper highlights a phenomenon where children feel a sense of responsibility for a world they believe is being mismanaged by adults.
“Children are imagining the end of the world not as a distant science fiction, but as a tangible possibility,” the authors note. The study points out that while climate change remains a major concern, nuclear anxiety has seen a sharp resurgence in the wake of recent global conflicts.
The paper explains that adults and educators often avoid discussing nuclear issues with children to protect them, but this silence can actually increase anxiety. By leaving children to interpret frightening imagery on their own, including historical nuclear explosions from World War II, society may be neglecting the mental health impacts of living in a high-tension security environment.
The authors call for child-centred security studies using child-centred methodologies such as drawings that take young people's perspectives seriously, arguing that their views are a valid and vital indicator of the world's current psychological climate.
Read the open-access full paper: Critical Studies on Security (2026): Mushrooms, cranes, and the fear of planetary destruction: exploring children’s imaginaries of war and nuclear anxiety. DOI: 10.1080/21624887.2026.2648445
