This report describes these projects in detail: the spread of nuclear materials and weapons-making capability, cancer-testing technology and saccharin, the implications of the Carter Administration’s National Energy Plan, the trade-offs between individual rights and massive computerization of the Nation’s tax information system, ways to spur research on increasing the supply of food, the prospects of solar technology.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on the "possible effects on society of coal slurry pipeline development, a comparison of pipeline and unit train costs, and an analysis of relevant legal and regulatory issues" (Foreword).