Word: havoc
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...make rapid adjustments to fluctuating temperatures. As mirror size increases, these two requirements begin to dictate different, and quickly contradictory, solutions. Very thick mirrors resist physical deformation extremely well, but because they retain so much heat, they tend to generate shimmering currents in the cold night air that play havoc with astronomers' observations. Very thin mirrors, on the other hand, have ideal thermal properties but a daunting physical handicap: as the telescope pans across the sky, a thin mirror will bend and wobble as if made of rubber...
...takes twist after twist, placing a story within a story. The internal rivalry between the destitute lepers and the village of rickshaw-puller tenants is juxtaposed against the larger framework of animosity between the poor villagers and the landlord's draconian son, Ashok. He terrorizes the villagers, and wreaks havoc in their impoverished and already miserable lives...
When the worldwide Great Depression came, the German economy collapsed. Promising to end reparations, rebuild Germany and restore German national pride, Hitler capitalized on the people's despair. The Nazis rose to power (through democratic elections, it should be noted) in 1993 and wreaked worldwide havoc for the next 12 years...
Brown was re-elected in 1978, but many Californians had lost confidence in the governor. In 1981, the Mediterranean fruit fly invaded the state's Central Valley, threatening to wreak havoc on California's huge agricultural industry...
Free radicals are cellular renegades; they wreak havoc by damaging DNA, altering biochemical compounds, corroding cell membranes and killing cells outright. Such molecular mayhem, scientists increasingly believe, plays a major role in the development of ailments like cancer, heart or lung disease and cataracts. Many researchers are convinced that the cumulative effects of free radicals also underlie the gradual deterioration that is the hallmark of aging in all individuals, healthy as well as sick. Antioxidants, studies suggest, might help stem the damage by neutralizing free radicals. In effect they perform as cellular sheriffs, collaring the radicals and hauling them away...