Given the centrality of uranium to the story of the Manhattan Project, the creation of Oak Ridge, and the ongoing nuclear renaissance, I thought it would be good to learn more about that element, so I spoke on our podcast, AMSEcast, with Tom Zoellner about his fascinating book, Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World. I started by asking why uranium is so unique and so suited to creating the chain reactions that are central to both nuclear energy production and the workings of nuclear weapons.