Like many science fiction stories, "The Toxic Donut" includes several references to science and technology, the most overt of which is the nanotechnology that is used to compress all of the world's toxic wastes into a single donut. As Ron says, the president of the International Institute of Environmental Sciences will give "the Wonders of Science rap, where he explains how they have managed to collect and contain all the year's toxic wastes, pollutants, etc., and keep them out of the environment—."