Courtney writes:
So, φ, the golden ratio (an honest to goodness irrational number that’s equal to 1.618…) appears all over the place and is considered to be the particular ratio associated with beauty. It comes up in discussions about architecture, the spiral on seashells, and the path a hawk in flight takes as it swoops to catch its prey (the vegan in me doesn’t like to contemplate that last one).
Chris writes, “This is an image of a female Cave Weta – A New Zealand indigenous insect similar to a grasshopper, except much larger.”
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Originally published June 21, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
Slate, June 20, 2008
Aristotle didn’t have a high opinion of the octopus. “The octopus is a stupid creature,” he wrote, “for it will approach a man’s hand if it be lowered in the water.” Twenty-four centuries later, this “stupid” creature is enjoying a much better reputation. YouTube is loaded with evidence of what some might call octopus intelligence. One does an uncanny impression of a flounder. Another mimics coral before darting away from a pushy camera. A third slips its arms around a jar, unscrews it, and dines on the crab inside. Scientific journals publish research papers on octopus learning, octopus personality, octopus memory.
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Originally published June 19, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
Alan writes:
“After much consideration, I decided to get an atom tattoo. But what atom? Given that I’m a graduate student in organic chemistry at the University of Michigan, carbon seemed like the obvious choice. It also has the advantage of being small enough not to look too crowded. I went for a retro 50’s Jetsons sort of look. Believe it or not, the general shape (though not the coloring) is based on a piece of Microsoft Office clip-art.”
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Originally published June 18, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.