Interesting images of deformed, and not so deformed shot here
http://shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=87&t=307860

Purposefully non-round shot is the 'newest thing'
Hevi-shot
http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/262799-non-toxic-shot/
Winchester HexShot
http://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2011/9/9/winchester-blind-side/
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/02/06/winchesters-new-blind-side-shotshells/

Re: shot stringing

Ed Lowry, ballistician and the director of research at Olin-Winchester, spark shadowgraphs in "The Effect of a Shotstring" American Rifleman, November 1979