Between 1962 and 1963, the U.S. carried out Operation Storax — a series of 47 nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site. The name, surprisingly, comes from a fragrant tree resin once used in perfumes and incense, an oddly delicate label for detonations that shook the desert and sky. Storax reflected the paradox of the nuclear age: destructive force packaged in everyday, sometimes poetic names.