52
POPSThe Mathematical Lives of Plants The seeds of a sunflower, the spines of a cactus, and the bracts of a pine cone all grow in whirling spiral patterns. Remarkable for their complexity and beauty, they also show consistent mathematical patterns that scientists have been striving to understand. ... Scientists have puzzled over this pattern of plant growth for hundreds of years. Why would plants prefer the golden angle to any other? And how can plants possibly "know" anything about Fibonacci numbers? For the first time, scientists have found convincing biochemical mechanisms responsible for the interlocking spiral growth patterns seen in many plants. (The Romanesco broccoli plant is a striking example.) The video of the experiment with magnetized liquid iron droplets demonstrates how the geometry of such growth could occur in nature.
19
POPSSocial Networking for Zebras Ecologists have turned to computer scientists to develop dynamic graphs of social behavior among Zebra populations, revealing why some are thriving while others are endangered: The difference showed that the Grevy's zebras tended to hang out in cliques, whereas the onagers spent time with different buddies on different days. The methods developed turn out to applicable to human networks, too: In the meantime, Berger-Wolf is testing her methods on other datasets, including the records of e-mails exchanged at Enron that became available after they were subpoenaed. She has found some surprising connections between the two kinds of networks. "We can see that our method to detect when a lion was in the area of zebras detects very well when the subpoena was issued at Enron," she says. When faced with a lion, the zebras flee and follow one lead zebra. Similarly, after the subpoena was issued, e-mail traffic to the lawyers increased dramatically.
15
POPSCandid NYC Subway Turnstile Photos UPDATE: Darn, the site didn't clip as well as I was hoping. But it's still worth seeing. See main site for high-resolution photos . Fascinating installation by NYC photographer, Bill Sullivan, who frames the wonder that is human variety in everyday — yet unexpected — locations. (Love the guy with the BMX wheels in his hands.) (Via kottke .)
10
POPSFractal Food: Self-Similarity on the Supermarket Shelf This great article on computational self-similarity in nature provided the author with an excuse to take a series of spectacular close-up photos of the incredible Romanesco broccoli plant. Fractals never looked so delicious! (Click pictures for high-resolution images.) Nearly exact self-similar fractal forms occur do in nature, but I'd never seen such a beautiful and perfect example until, some time after moving to Switzerland, I came across a chou Romanesco like the one above in a grocery store. This is so visually stunning an object that on first encounter it's hard to imagine you're looking at a garden vegetable rather than an alien artefact created with molecular nanotechnology. But of course, then you realise that vegetables are created with molecular nanotechnology, albeit the product of earthly evolution, not extraterrestrial engineering.
3
POPSHomeostasis as a model for climate change Thought-provoking comparison between homeostatic mechanisms in living organisms and the response of planetary climate systems to human influence. In this depressing analogy, we humans are an invading microbe, and the Earth is about to get a fever.
1
POPSLas Vegas and San Jose: boomtowns with busted downtowns
What Vegas and Silicon Valley cannot do for their downtowns, can most American cities without booming economies expect to do for theirs? This bodes poorly for conventional planning on how to save city centers. New ideas on how to save American cities need to address unmentionables: racism, classism, the drug economy and the perception of violence that hobbles cities. Meanwhile, mostly driving to and from work, Americans burn five times more petrol than even other industrialized countries, leaving us at the mercy of players who give us oil by trading away our freedoms, and by wrecking the earth to farm all manner of sugars, starches, and now cellulose, to burn ethanol—all for nine lanes of traffic, strip malls, and ugly cities full of blacktop but devoid of civic life and youthful promise. Those who have not traveled to Hong Kong, Manhattan, and other compact cities have not experienced how life could be better with fewer cars. And success would free the need for massive subsidies.
1
POPSNew study money portends hope for former Vacuum Oil brownfields “Prime land” it is, so close to the University of Rochester and city-center Rochester. Like so many stretches along the banks of the Genesee, so beautiful and hauntingly desolate, it's hard to imagine downtown could be so close. The River Trail there is one of my favorite spots to skate.
Most Pops
see Most Pops
10
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update