Beyond Euclid - #137
Welcome to Beyond Euclid #137, the newsletter for the best mathematics and science stuff of the week. I am Ali, and I curate cool math and science stuff every week to help you have a better week.
📰 Greetings and happy Sunday! This week has been an incredibly prolific one, filled with the discovery of countless captivating content as I browsed the web. The abundance of beautiful material has truly inspired me. However, to keep things engaging and concise, I’ve selected just a few gems to share with you today.
You may have noticed a shift towards more aesthetically pleasing content recently. Indeed, Beyond Euclid is evolving into a newsletter that beautifully bridges the realms of science, mathematics, and art. I hope you enjoy this blend of knowledge and beauty as much as I do.
For those who find value in our explorations and wish to support this venture, becoming a paid subscriber would be immensely appreciated. Your support is the backbone of our journey.
• Let’s start this week’s newsletter with John Conway’s interesting math riddle.
There is a mysterious 10-digit decimal number, abcdefghij. Each of the digits is different, and they have the properties below. What is the number?
• Just another beautiful pattern in mathematics.
• In the heart of Helsinki lies Keskuskatu, a pedestrian street adorned with the mesmerizing patterns of Penrose tiling. This renowned example of aperiodic tiling is both captivating and intricate, utilizing basic building blocks that repeat along the street without ever forming a repetitive pattern. The result is a pavement that lacks translational symmetry, creating a delightful and endlessly fascinating experience for those who traverse it. You can do a virtual visit on Google maps.
• The brachistochrone. When you roll a ball down a ramp intuition says that it should be a straight line for the min time. But the minimum time happens when the ramp curve is a cycloid.
• Orbiters. Beautiful geometry gif.
• Paul Dirac is real-life Sheldon Cooper. And Dirac’s PhD thesis is an unparalleled masterpiece in the field of science. At the incredibly young age of 24, Dirac submitted a revolutionary dissertation laying the foundational ideas of the general theory of quantum mechanics, considered one of the most significant breakthroughs in science.
• Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks are treasure troves filled with diagrams, drawings, personal musings, and sharp observations. These notebooks offer a rare glimpse into Leonardo's unique perspective on the world. Leonardo's writing was quite unconventional—he used mirror writing, possibly to keep his ideas secret or simply because he was left-handed.
• Joe Freedman’s Cycloid Drawing Machine. This wooden cycloid drawing machine is a work of art. You can make infinite wonderful geometric designs with it. This spirograph literally is a thing of skill and beauty. Jim Bumgardner made a virtual cycloid drawing machine. Go play with it!
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•Wassily Kandinsky's "Color Triangle"! An absolute masterpiece that illustrates the power of abstract art through geometry and color.
• Z proportions by Becca Hirsbrunner. The mesmerizing construction of the letter Z.
• Mel Bochner's work prominently features mathematical systems, as seen in "Meditation on the Theorem of Pythagoras." The sculpture was conceived during a trip to Italy in 1972 where Bochner visited a Pythagorean temple.
• Anthony's Goods is a shop for organic foods. They put Riemann hypothesis on the back of their bags and ask you to prove it if you want to get a free product.
• Saturn's perplexing hexagon, a spinning six-sided jet stream located at its north pole, has fascinated scientists and the public since its discovery in the 1980s. Images and data collected by the Cassini probe during its mission from 2004-2017 provided some surprising answers about the hexagon, but also heightened the mystery surrounding it. Due to Saturn's long seasons, it wasn't until 2009 that Cassini was able to capture visible light images of the hexagon. The hexagon is produced by a vortex at Saturn's north pole that resembles a hurricane, but is not created by the same conditions as hurricanes on Earth. After 294 orbits and 13 years in space, Cassini ended its mission by burning up in Saturn's atmosphere while continuing to collect data until its final moments.
• Liang-Jung Chen made The Hardware Archive as a collection of everyday hardware items reimagined through the lens of design and research. Started as a project in 2018, it has since grown into a digital archive featuring objects from around the world. The collection showcases the clever engineering and anonymous nature of these humble objects.
• This guy made a unique bicycle with slippers instead of wheels! It is extremely cool.
• Every year, an astounding phenomenon occurs as 100 million monarch butterflies awaken from their winter slumber in a Mexican forest. The trees here offer an ideal sanctuary, shielding the butterflies from the frigid nights. When the temperature climbs above 13°C, a breathtaking spectacle unfolds as these vibrant creatures take flight, filling the skies. This awe-inspiring event is the most massive congregation of butterflies on the planet.
• A recent YouGov poll reveals that nearly half of Americans harbor negative feelings about encountering bugs outdoors. Public opinion on the impact of climate change on insect numbers is divided. Only 16% believe it has caused a decrease, 20% observe an increase, and 26% see no effect at all. Political affiliations also influence these views, with Democrats more likely than Republicans to think that climate change is diminishing insect populations. When dealing with insects, about one-third of Americans will always or usually kill a harmful bug. On the other hand, 14% of people state they would never kill an insect, even if it was dangerous.
• Scientists have successfully 3D printed brick-like pieces out of meteorite dust, called the ESA Space Bricks, to explore the possibility of building structures on the Moon. The bricks are inspired by LEGO pieces and are intended to solve the unique challenges of constructing on lunar surfaces.
• This year Nepal government removed 11 tons of trash, four dead bodies and even a skeleton from the Everest mountain. However, it’s estimated that up to 40-50 tons of garbage still remain at the mountain, positioned at a dizzying 8,000 meters altitude. Some of the oldest waste dates back to 1957, including items like rechargeable batteries for torch lights. Experts state that at such extreme heights, climbers often abandon trash in their desperate bid to survive.
• In a remarkable shift within the US energy landscape, wind energy has been generating more electricity than coal. Notably, wind power produced 28% more electricity than coal in April, continuing this encouraging trend for the second month in a row. As renewable energy sources like wind and solar grow more proficient, they are increasingly challenging fossil fuels and nuclear power for dominance in electricity generation.
• The global population is anticipated to swell by over 2 billion people in the coming decades. Experts predict it will peak at about 10.3 billion in the 2080s, then taper off to 10.2 billion by the century's end. There's an 80% probability that this peak will occur within the current century.
Great stuff! The slipper wheel was insane! Yes, I love the intersection of math, science and art! Keep it up!