The Radioactive Boy Scout The Frightening True Story Of A Whiz Kid And His Homemade Nuclear Reactor

Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science, and his basement experiments—building homemade fireworks, brewing moonshine, and concocting his own self-tanning lotion—were more ambitious than those of other boys. While working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David’s obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a nuclear breeder reactor in his backyard garden shed. In The Radioactive Boy Scout, veteran journalist Ken Silverstein recreates in brilliant detail the months of David’s improbable nuclear quest. Posing as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the U.S. government and from industry experts. (Ironically, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was his number one source of information.) Scavenging antiques stores and junkyards for old-fashioned smoke detectors and gas lanterns—both of which contain small amounts of radioactive material—and following blueprints he found in an outdated physics textbook, David cobbled together a crude device that threw off toxic levels of radiation. His unsanctioned and wholly unsupervised project finally sparked an environmental catastrophe that put his town’s forty thousand residents at risk and caused the EPA to shut down his lab and bury it at a radioactive dumpsite in Utah. An outrageous account of ambition and, ultimately, hubris that sits comfortably on the shelf next to such offbeat science books as Driving Mr. Albert and stories of grand capers like Catch Me If You Can, The Radioactive Boy Scout is a real-life adventure with the narrative energy of a first-rate thriller.

Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science. While he was working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David’s obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a model nuclear reactor in his backyard garden shed. Posing as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the U.S. government and from industry experts. Following blueprints he found in an outdated physics textbook, David cobbled together a crude device that threw off toxic levels of radiation. His wholly unsupervised project finally sparked an environmental emergency that put his town’s forty thousand suburbanites at risk. The EPA ended up burying his lab at a radioactive dumpsite in Utah. This offbeat account of ambition and, ultimately, hubris has the narrative energy of a first-rate thriller.

Traces a boy's fascination with science and nuclear physics, which compelled him to misrepresent himself to the government and build a reactor in his back yard, causing an environmental catastrophe in his quiet Detroit town.

This story of a child prodigy and his unique upbringing is “an engrossing journey to the outer realms of science and parenting” (Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish). A PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Finalist Like many young children, Taylor Wilson dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Only Wilson mastered the science of rocket propulsion by the age of nine. When he was eleven, he tried to cure his grandmother’s cancer—and discovered new ways to produce medical isotopes. Then, at fourteen, Wilson became the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion, building a 500-million-degree reactor—in his parents’ garage. In The Boy Who Played with Fusion, science journalist Tom Clynes narrates Wilson’s extraordinary story. Born in Texarkana, Arkansas, Wilson quickly displayed an advanced intellect. Recognizing their son’s abilities and the limitations of their local schools, his parents took a bold leap and moved the family to Reno, Nevada. There, Wilson could attend a unique public high school created specifically for academic superstars. Wilson is now designing devices to prevent terrorists from shipping radioactive material and inspiring a new generation to take on the challenges of science. If you’re wondering how someone so young can achieve so much, The Boy Who Played with Fusion has the answer. Along the way, Clynes’ narrative teaches parents, teachers, and society how and why we urgently need to support high-achieving kids. “An essential contribution to our understanding of the most important underlying questions about the development of giftedness, talent, creativity, and intelligence.” —Psychology Today “A compelling study of the thrills—and burdens—of being born with an alpha intellect.” —Financial Times

The fight against terrorism is constantly in the news, and NATO has committed to the mission of counterterrorism as a central role of the alliance. This is a mission which requires the maximum cooperation of all NATO members and partners, and the sharing of knowledge and expertise is crucial to its success. This book presents the proceedings of the NATO Centre of Excellence – Defence against Terrorism (COE-DAT) Advanced Training Course ‘Capacity Building in the Fight against Terrorism’, held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in June 2012. The presentations were delivered by 11 expert practitioners and academics from eight countries. The subjects covered include: an overview of terrorism; NATO's approach to defence against terrorism; weapons of mass destruction terrorism; eco-terrorism; religion and the question of violence; as well as energy and environmental security, international cooperation, human rights, use of the internet, crisis management, finance, recruitment and prejudice perception management as they relate to the fight against terrorism. This book will be of interest to all those wishing to maintain an awareness of the current situation as regards terrorism and counter terrorism worldwide.

Outlines what it takes to make chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; suggests who might be able to produce and use such weapons; and examines how effective countermeasures might be.

Well established as a clear, comprehensive course text in five prior editions, this book has now been extensively revised, with a focus on disciplinary literacy. It offers a research-based framework for helping students in grades 6-12 learn to read, write, and communicate academic content and to develop the unique literacy, language, and problem-solving skills required by the different disciplines. In an engaging, conversational style, William G. Brozo presents effective instruction and assessment practices, illustrated with extended case studies and sample forms. Special attention is given to adaptations to support diverse populations, including English language learners. (Prior edition title: Content Literacy for Today's Adolescents, Fifth Edition.) New to This Edition: *Shift in focus to disciplinary literacy as well as general content-area learning. *Chapter on culturally and linguistically diverse learners. *Incorporates a decade of research and the goals of the Common Core State Standards. *Increased attention to academic vocabulary, English language learners, the use of technology, and multiple text sources, such as graphic novels and digital texts. *Pedagogical features: chapter-opening questions plus new case studies, classroom dialogues, practical examples, sample forms, and more.