Introduction
[pt]. 1. Terrorism
1. Nine-eleven
Inspecting passengers
Taking control
Flying and navigating the airplane
Impact
2. Terrorist nukes
Big nukes
The terrorist dirty bomb
Rogue nukes
Uranium bombs
Plutonium bombs
3. The next terrorist attack
Future airplane gasoline attacks
Bombs on airplanes
4. Biological terrorism
The anthrax attack
Terrorism : presidential summary
[pt]. 2. Energy
5. Key energy surprises
Why we love oil
Power
Energy alternatives
Th e bottom line : the cost of energy
6. Solar power
An anecdote
Basic facts
Solar power plants
Solar airplanes
7. The end of oil
Oil from coal : Fischer-Tropsch
The price of oil
Energy : presidential summary


[pt]. 3. Nukes
8. Radioactivity and death
Radiation and cancer
The linear effect
The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor disaster
The linear hypothesis
9. Radioactive decay
Dangers of short versus long half-lives
Environmental radioactivity
Horrific mutations
X-rays and microwaves
Is radioactivity contagious?
10. Nuclear weapons
The key to an explosion: the nuclear chain reaction
World War II and the Manhattan Project
Critical mass - the first atomic secret
Hiroshima - the simple bomb design
The hard part - purifying uranium-235
Centrifuges
The plutonium bomb - an implosion design
The hydrogen bomb
Fallout
Big bombs
Smaller weapons, more destruction
11. Nuclear madness
The neutron bomb and the weapons paradox
Nuclear proliferation
How worried should we be?
Nukular weapons
12. Nuclear power
Can a nuclear reactor explode like an atomic bomb?
Manufacturing plutonium
Fast breeder reactors
The China Syndrome
Three Mile Island - fuel meltdown
Chernobyl - a runaway chain reaction
Pebble bed reactors
13. Nuclear waste
My confession
Plutonium
Depleted uranium
14. Controlled fusion
Tokamak
Laser fusion
Cold fusion
Nukes : presidential summary


[pt]. 4. Space
15. Space and satellites
Satellite orbits : LEO, GEO, and MEO
GPS : a set of medium-Earth-orbit satellites
Spy satellites
Rocket science
16. Gravity applications
g's
Using gravity to search for ice, oil, hidden craters, and secret tunnels
Space industry : manufacturing in a weightless environment
Gravity on the Moon and asteroids
Artificial gravity
The X Prize
17. Humans in space
18. Spying with invisible light
Infrared radiation
Remote sensing of the Earth
Military special ops
Stinger missiles
Radar and stealth
Radar imaging
X-ray backscatter
Space : presidential summary
[pt]. 5. Global warming
19. A brief history of climate
The climate of the past 14,000 years
20. The greenhouse effect
Carbon dioxide
Calculating greenhouse warming
Another danger : acid oceans
The ozone hole
21. A very likely cause
Doing something about it : Alaska
22. Evidence
Distortion
Exaggeration
Cherry picking
News bias
The hockey stick
Carbon dioxide and ancient climate
Science and propaganda
23. Nonsolutions
Hydrogen hype
Electric automobiles
Fusion
Solar power
Recycling
Kyoto


24. The fruit of the ground
Comfortable conservation
Compact fluorescent lights
Cool colors : when brown paint is white
Reason for optimism : Rosenfeld's law
The fizzling population bomb
Automobile efficiency
25. New technologies
Biofuels
Concentrating solar
Safe nukes
Clean coal
Carbon credits
Renewable energy
Global warming : presidential summary - the buck stops here
Notes
Index.