Toxic Mix? ranges across the major areas of scientific inquiry with public policy implications, including atomic energy, space science, public health, stem cells, sexual reproduction, environmental science, global warming, and evolution, to examine important events where political imperatives and scientific research were at odds.

Atomic politics -- The politics of space science -- The politics of sexual reproduction -- The politics of stem cells -- The heated politics of global warming -- The politics of nature -- The politics of public health -- The politics of evolution -- Science and the politics of xenophobia -- The promise of political change and scientific redemption.