STAYING IN SYNC Some ensembles are more autocratic — following one leader — while other musical groups are more democratic, making corrections equally, to stay together while playing a piece.
EmirMemedovski/iStockphoto
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SHAPE SHIFTER A new type of molecular cage has all sides of equal length and flat faces that are all pentagons or hexagons (left). The hexagons have angles that vary from 104 to 142 degrees. A fullerene with the same number of vertices and the same pattern of faces (right) has hexagons with angles that vary in a much narrower range. This forces the hexagonal faces to warp and the cage to assume a pointy shape.
Molecular graphics performed with the University of California, San Francisco Chimera package. Figure provided by S. Schein.
NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE A nuclear bomb used today would probably be 10 kilotons or less, nuclear security experts say, much smaller and more survivable than the megaton weapons developed during the Cold War. A new study provides some key numbers that could help save your life if a nuclear bomb drops.
U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, restored by Peter Kuran
