If you reached this page from the audiobook of Critical Mass, welcome.

In the afterword I referenced several real scientific experiments and research efforts that inspired the story. Audiobook listeners obviously can’t see hyperlinks, so they are collected here.

Most of the science in Critical Mass is real. Some is speculative. Here is the research behind the story:

FILE 001 — THE SHINKOLOBWE MINE

One of the least-known facts of the Manhattan Project is that much of its uranium came from the same region where Critical Mass takes place—the Congo. The Shinkolobwe mine, located in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, supplied an estimated two-thirds of the uranium used by the United States during World War II.

LINKS: 
The History of the Shinkolobwe Mine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkolobwe

U.S. National Park Service – Uranium and the Manhattan Project

DOE – Manhattan Project Uranium Mines

James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies – Uranium Security in the DRC

FILE 002 — URANIUM ENRICHMENT

Gas centrifuge enrichment is not theoretical. It is the dominant uranium enrichment method in use worldwide today. These systems rely on uranium hexafluoride gas spun at extreme speeds—often exceeding 60,000 RPM—to separate isotopes by mass.

LINKS:
Uranium Enrichment – technical overview
Gas Centrifuge Technology

WHY GOVERNMENTS WORRY ABOUT THIS FUTURE

Council on Foreign Relations – Nuclear Proliferation Risks
RAND – Emerging Military Technologies

FILE 003 — FUTURE AVIATION

THE MC-130 VARIANT EVOLUTION

The MC-130 family has undergone continuous evolution for decades. The aircraft depicted in Critical Mass is fictional, but its capabilities represent a logical extension of existing special operations aviation trends. By 2037, it is reasonable to expect AI-assisted flight management and adaptive propulsion improvements.

LINKS:
U.S. Air Force – MC-130J Commando II
NASA – Autonomous Flight Systems Research
Sikorsky’s S-70UAS U-Hawk

DRONES

LINKS:
Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs)
Autonomous Drone Swarm Demonstration
Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Drone Swarms

FILE 004 — FUTURE MEDICS

LINKS:
Optogenetics – scientific overview
NIH – Optogenetics Review
NIH – Traumatic Brain Injury Research; Frontiers in Neuroscience – Neuroprotective Compounds

FILE 005 — ADAPTIVE MATERIALS

LINKS:
Air Curtain Technology
Smart Materials – Overview