Artistic Wormhole

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    a beautiful mathematical construct…

    a reminder that we perceive beauty in the emergent patterns derived from simple iterative algorithms (shells, organic growth, life, culture, evolution)

    The Wentletrap shell takes its name from a “spiral staircase” in German-Dutch, and it reminds me of the architecture of Gaudi

    TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³, Reghi, gugleme, mantruc, and 143 other people added this photo to their favorites.

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    1. vennettaj ( a bit away ) 46 months ago | reply

      wow..this is so raw, at first didn't realize what was looking at

    2. vennettaj ( a bit away ) 46 months ago | reply

      math --sure, but imagine this in black..would be still pretty but kinda scary.. may be...is the color issue more like physics....i'm totally not sure what talking..just like physics on top! :)
      very cool shot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    3. michal.manas 45 months ago | reply

      Epitonium scalare

    4. Man of Equinox [deleted] 38 months ago | reply

      GREAT IMAGE!...Thanks for sharing it under a Creative Common License!...

    5. bakerpuzzlemaker 38 months ago | reply

      This awesome image is being featured in the Spiral Shapes in Nature and More webpage gallery - a simple group of spiral shaped images to consider and enjoy.

      Thanks for sharing your amazing photo through Creative Commons.

    6. RuthArt 36 months ago | reply

      my attempt at using this shell, thank you for sharing.

      Toot Your Horn - RuthArt

    7. Max Short 36 months ago | reply

      I have used your great immage here, thans a lot

      Voglio sentire il mare attraverso la conchiglia!/ I can hear the sea throught the huge shell!

    8. HeedingtheMuses 36 months ago | reply

      thank you for putting a creative commons license on this perfect image. I used it in a montage here;

      textures only group competition #99 ~ entry ~

    9. ihave3kids 36 months ago | reply

      Thank you!
      Lone Survivor in Paradise

    10. acire111 36 months ago | reply

      Thank you for the lovely shell,in Holland we called it a 'Wenteltrap' something like a spiral staircase :-)

      Sweet sound

    11. jaci XIII 36 months ago | reply

      Thanks you!
      The cry for myth.

    12. ihave3kids 34 months ago | reply

      Thank you for your shell!
      An Old Book about The Little MermaidbookOld

    13. Shandchem 22 months ago | reply

      A most beautiful image natural architecture! Many thanks for the background info on the name!

    14. sakura2blossoms 21 months ago | reply

      Amazing portrayal of an ordinary seashell, isn't nature amazing?

    15. biotron 16 months ago | reply

      Just read snippets of Sarah Hoare's Poems on Conchology and Botany in Richard Hamblyn's The Invention of Clouds and thought of you / this.

    16. Specklet 11 months ago | reply

      Neat discussion about the varices, guys.

      Just wanted to add that this type of shell is called a open planispiral: a flat spiral where the coils don't touch each other.

    17. jurvetson 5 months ago | reply

      - thanks!

      P.S. a related link from fB (which reminded me of Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow) Feynman's Ode to a Flower:

      "I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree. Then he says “I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing,” and I think that he’s kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe…

      I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. I mean it’s not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there’s also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts."

    18. vennettaj ( a bit away ) 5 months ago | reply

      it's always funny to hear how Feynman talks about arts..it's like he had an unresolved issue there :p can't help compare to Einstein who seems more thorough..he had deep interest/understanding in/of all.. is it possible that Feynman lacked that..hard to believe ..as he's so bright..or he just never got the time to develop that part.. just wondering..

    19. jurvetson 5 months ago | reply

      Feynman seems pretty lucid in that quote. Are you thinking of some other comments from him? I have not read him as extensively as I would. Have his books and DVD of his lectures on my shelf...

      Einstein - more thorough because he left some Spinoza-like musings out there in cryptic form? So anyone can project their personal beliefs on some select quotes from Einstein? =)

    20. vennettaj ( a bit away ) 5 months ago | reply

      yes, i was thinking of another quote ..he seemed to meet with lame artists..and scientists..but it didn't occur to him conclude science is lame :)

      no Spinoza..no religion.. but ok, i'm projecting.. have to leave computer..will be back

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