Three Republicans raised their hands at a recent presidential debate when asked if they do not recognize evolution. The obvious joke here is that the act of raising their hands will eventually be proof of natural selection as they are whisked from the national stage.
A reasonable follow-up question to the troika would have been, "Do you believe the Earth is several thousand years old, and if so, do you also acknowledge the implication that nuclear weaponry does not and has never existed?" The science of the two are more closely linked than you might expect.
The Earth is 4.54 billion years old, give or take 100 million years. Physicists determined this date by studying the uranium and lead composition of dozens of terrestrial rocks and meteorites.
Uranium is a chemical element, one of those 90 (or 118, depending on how you count) fundamental kinds of matter, each of which has its own characteristic atom. A single element can claim atoms of varying mass. Some masses, or isotopes, are stable. Some are not. Certain elements' isotopes are known to decay, or emit radiation, at known rates. For example, carbon-14 is used to date objects made from once-living matter that is no more than 50,000 years old. It has been shown to both prove and disprove the ancient age of the Shroud of Turin. (Long story.)
Uranium atoms come in two sizes, U-238 and U-235. Over time much of it has decayed into lead, Pb-206 and Pb-207. Geologists know how fast uranium decays, and assume that lead and uranium were equally dispersed around the Solar System at its inception. By measuring the modern ratios of lead isotopes in the Earth and meteorites, they can count backward to a time when no uranium had yet decayed into lead: The beginning of the solar system. The answer, from more than 70 rocks, comes to 4.54 billion years ago.
Nuclear weaponry takes advantage of the instability of uranium isotopes. U-235, or highly enriched uranium, made up the core of the bomb used to destroy Hiroshima in August 1945. It lies at the heart of more powerful hydrogen bombs, which incorporate U-238 fuel as well.
Uranium is uranium. Lead isotopes, Pb-206 and Pb-207, indicate the previous existence of uranium. The properties of this element have guided scientists to both estimate the age of the Earth and build nuclear arsenals. That's why the notion of a "young Earth" is incompatible with believing that nuclear bombs exist. If scientists understand uranium well enough to set off a bomb, it's credible to date the age of the Earth with it, too. If the Earth is only 6,002 years old, then uranium isotope dating does not work, and by extension, nor should atomic and hydrogen bombs.
Drawing a distinction between the uranium in nuclear warheads and in old rocks isn't even splitting hairs. It's splitting atoms.