In the remote grasslands of eastern Kazakhstan, life carries on in villages built atop one of the world’s most infamous nuclear test sites. For four decades, the Semipalatinsk Test Site was ground zero for hundreds of Soviet nuclear detonations, leaving behind radioactive contamination that still seeps into the soil, water, and food chain. Yet generations of villagers have remained, adapting to a landscape scarred by radiation — and redefining survival in the shadow of nuclear history. Professors Magdalena Stawkowski (Anthropology) and Timothy Mousseau (Biological Sciences) are collaborating to uncover the complexities of this fascinating mystery.

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