“Lightning Made from Molasses”

When lightning travels through air, its fractal extensions and plasma-infused tendrils are only present for a fleeting fraction of a second. This makes studying those patterns a bit difficult, obviously.

You could use an expensive high-speed camera to capture the phenomenon at >7,000 frames per second, but there’s a much cheaper method: Pump 15,000 volts through plywood.

That’s what Melanie Hoff did above. Sure, it’s not a perfect recreation of a meteorological event, but the slow creep of fractal zaps makes their patterns, and how they are created, jump out. A lesson in math, or weather? You decide.

(via Open Culture)

Fractal Flowers I know you love fractals, because we’re friends, and all my friends love fractals. We’ve seen them in nature, in the recursive spindles of branching rivers, but they’re more rare in living things (although our blood vessels follow a certain fractal-like pattern as they spread to capillaries). That’s why it makes me so happy to see fractals captured in an imaginative art/nature intersection. Silvia Cordedda uses fractal generation software to digitally draw fractal flowers. They are mystically unreal (unfortunately for us) but they remind me of several near-fractals in actual flowers. That’s right, fractals (or at least near-fractals, because they aren’t infinite) DO exist in nature, and you’ve probably seen them. My favorite flower fractal? Romanesco broccoli (yep, it’s a flower!): If you can’t choke that down, pour some Vi Hart cheese sauce all over it and check out this video of fractal fractions: (via My Modern Met)
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Fractal Flowers I know you love fractals, because we’re friends, and all my friends love fractals. We’ve seen them in nature, in the recursive spindles of branching rivers, but they’re more rare in living things (although our blood vessels follow a certain fractal-like pattern as they spread to capillaries). That’s why it makes me so happy to see fractals captured in an imaginative art/nature intersection. Silvia Cordedda uses fractal generation software to digitally draw fractal flowers. They are mystically unreal (unfortunately for us) but they remind me of several near-fractals in actual flowers. That’s right, fractals (or at least near-fractals, because they aren’t infinite) DO exist in nature, and you’ve probably seen them. My favorite flower fractal? Romanesco broccoli (yep, it’s a flower!): If you can’t choke that down, pour some Vi Hart cheese sauce all over it and check out this video of fractal fractions: (via My Modern Met)
Zoom Info
Fractal Flowers I know you love fractals, because we’re friends, and all my friends love fractals. We’ve seen them in nature, in the recursive spindles of branching rivers, but they’re more rare in living things (although our blood vessels follow a certain fractal-like pattern as they spread to capillaries). That’s why it makes me so happy to see fractals captured in an imaginative art/nature intersection. Silvia Cordedda uses fractal generation software to digitally draw fractal flowers. They are mystically unreal (unfortunately for us) but they remind me of several near-fractals in actual flowers. That’s right, fractals (or at least near-fractals, because they aren’t infinite) DO exist in nature, and you’ve probably seen them. My favorite flower fractal? Romanesco broccoli (yep, it’s a flower!): If you can’t choke that down, pour some Vi Hart cheese sauce all over it and check out this video of fractal fractions: (via My Modern Met)
Zoom Info

Fractal Flowers

I know you love fractals, because we’re friends, and all my friends love fractals. We’ve seen them in nature, in the recursive spindles of branching rivers, but they’re more rare in living things (although our blood vessels follow a certain fractal-like pattern as they spread to capillaries).

That’s why it makes me so happy to see fractals captured in an imaginative art/nature intersection. Silvia Cordedda uses fractal generation software to digitally draw fractal flowers. They are mystically unreal (unfortunately for us) but they remind me of several near-fractals in actual flowers.

That’s right, fractals (or at least near-fractals, because they aren’t infinite) DO exist in nature, and you’ve probably seen them. My favorite flower fractal? Romanesco broccoli (yep, it’s a flower!):

If you can’t choke that down, pour some Vi Hart cheese sauce all over it and check out this video of fractal fractions:

(via My Modern Met)

Infinite Jest is a literary fractal

In a 1996 interview, David Foster Wallace (a student of advanced mathematics in college in addition to being, you know, a writer) revealed that the structure of his career-defining work Infinite Jest was devised as a literary fractal.

It’s actually structured like something called a Sierpinski Gasket, which is a very primitive kind of pyramidical fractal, although what was structured as a Sierpinski Gasket was the first- was the draft that I delivered to [my editor] Michael in ‘94, and it went through some I think ‘mercy cuts’, so it’s probably kind of a lopsided Sierpinski Gasket now.

This Serpinski Gasket that he speaks of? The ordered wormhole of symmetrical layers? It’s a famous construction of stacked triangles that you’ve probably seen before.

Vi Hart showed us a scary version back around Halloween, made from candy:

Want to dig really deep into the literary mathemagic behind Wallace’s work? Here’s a fantastic essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books (warning: pretty cerebral). DFW reminds us:

“God has particular languages, and one of them is music and one of them is mathematics.”

(Tip of the triangle to Maria Popova)

staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
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staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
Zoom Info
staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
Zoom Info
staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
Zoom Info
staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
Zoom Info
staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
Zoom Info
staceythinx: Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations.  About: The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass.  Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?
Zoom Info

staceythinx:

Work by Jason Padgett, a man with Acquired Savant Syndrome who now sees all of reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations. 

About:

The beauty of numbers and their connection to the pure geometry of space time and the universe is shown in his fractal diagrams…He is currently studying how all fractals arise from limits and how E=MC2 is itself a fractal. When he first started drawing he had no traditional math training and could only draw what he saw as math. Eventually a physicist saw his drawings and helped him get traditional mathematics training to be able to describe in equations the complex geometry of his drawings. He is currently a student studying mathematics in Washington state where he is learning traditional mathematics so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. Many of the captions were written before he had any traditional math training. His drawing of E=MC^2 is based on the structure of space time at the quantum level and is based on the concept that there is a physical limit to observation which is the Planck length. It shows how at the smallest level, the structure of space time is a fractal…So sit back and enjoy the beauty of naturally occuring mathematics in pure geometric form connecting E=MC2 (energy) to art. All are HAND DRAWN using only a pencil, ruler and compass. 

Holy cow, is this what Neo saw in The Matrix?

OneZoom: A new, interactive tree of life that follows the diversity of life through fractal-like, swirling branches and leaves. I have something of a soft spot for trees of life. This one is already near the top of my list. The interactive viewer lets you zoom in to individual species, with curved branches resembling fractal spirals. Each leaf carries information about its species, including a color code that relates to its endangered status. It looks like it’s only mammals for now, but there are plans to add more. I really love how they embrace the idea that the web is not made of electronic paper, and stuff like this lets us explore science in ways that we never could in books. Go explore!
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OneZoom: A new, interactive tree of life that follows the diversity of life through fractal-like, swirling branches and leaves.

I have something of a soft spot for trees of life. This one is already near the top of my list. The interactive viewer lets you zoom in to individual species, with curved branches resembling fractal spirals. Each leaf carries information about its species, including a color code that relates to its endangered status.

It looks like it’s only mammals for now, but there are plans to add more. I really love how they embrace the idea that the web is not made of electronic paper, and stuff like this lets us explore science in ways that we never could in books.

Go explore!

Fractal Kitties! It’s nice to know that if you ever need a cat picture in the future, you might one day be able to use mathematics to draw one. You’re looking at a “fractal kitty” whose shape was approximated by applying a type of fractal version of a complex pattern called a Julia set. Head over to Scientific American to find out how these can be used to approximate shapes like cats, hearts, and other cute math-related stuff.
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Fractal Kitties!

It’s nice to know that if you ever need a cat picture in the future, you might one day be able to use mathematics to draw one. You’re looking at a “fractal kitty” whose shape was approximated by applying a type of fractal version of a complex pattern called a Julia set.

Head over to Scientific American to find out how these can be used to approximate shapes like cats, hearts, and other cute math-related stuff.

Source: blogs.scientificamerican.com