With a flash and a bang, a pellet of explosive detonates in a cavernous laboratory on the outskirts of the Pennsylvania State University campus. The explosive, triacetone triperoxide (TATP), is the one that terrorists reportedly used in their attack on the London subway in July 2005. Minutes after the lab explosion, engineers—some with bulky ear-protection gear still in place—stare at a laptop screen as they scan frame after frame of high-speed images.
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