The Art of John Edmark | Talk by Paul Dancstep | Exploratorium

What do plants know about numbers? A certain spiral pattern commonly seen in sunflowers, pinecones, and many species of cacti contains some surprising numerical properties. In this brisk talk, Paul Dancstep investigates this pattern through several kinetic sculptures by artist John Edmark. These mesmerizing artworks provide a number of insights into the mathematical lives of plants.

[@rowkayzg]

As someone who failed Algebra 1 three times and to this day cannot figure out the tip on a lunch check, this was the most mesmerizing, brilliant explanation of a basic mathematical principle I have ever seen. Oh, how I wish I could "do" math! And what a terrifically enthusiastic, awe-inspiring talk! Thank you!

[@SIMKINETICS]

I too had difficulty with Algebra (and still do), yet managed to become a Mechanical Engineer. Yet, I easily understand anything geometric and breezed through Calculus and other maths. This was a mystery to me until it became clear than I'm dyslexic, a fact confirmed by a neighbor who happened to be the Director of the Dept of Neurology at Stanford University after we had an exchange with several weird questions I answered; he told me that dyslexic people make the best Mechanical Engineers! I believe the theory about evolution 'side-stepping' common adaptation for using symbols to convey logic that allowed a genetic legacy for some people to think differently and have difficulty with the abstractions of symbols like letters and words on paper, i.e., being dyslexic. I suggest you look into that for your own difficulty, noting that you were fascinated by this video.

[@JulieWallis1963]

Just goes to show, it really *is* all down to the teacher.

[@whiskeymonk4085]

Yup. Failed pre algebra three times and then dropped out of 10th grade. Took a bunch of pure LSD and discovered that absolutely *EVERYTHING* is "spirally". A must read: The Curves Of Life by Theodore Andrea Cook. Its a real gem guys. You should get a copy and pass it on to the next generation. Good luck finding one.

[@whiskeymonk4085]

@@SIMKINETICS Absolutely fantastic story! Im just about certain im dyslexic. Yet I build houses. All the way from concrete to fine finish trim. Math has never been my strong suit and I blame a bit of it on the system of educating our youth. If a student cant pass pre-algebra he ist allowed the privilege to learn the higher courses. Doesnt seem right. I would have absolutely crushed a geometry course. Thanks for sharing man.

[@latitzouri]

The true failure is when you stop trying ;) Math is hard, it's no biggie

[@dxpert]

Wow - What an amazing talk and what fantastic art. Thank you for sharing.

[@addriannodj1990]

Many times great ideas come to people on this sort of stand by mode, watching the plate rotating, thinking about a fallen apple, watching the water rising while the body deeps in... It's like the mind needs space to run at the maximun capacity. Amazing video! Gratitude!

[@iMoo1124]

What an absolutely beautiful video! Those animations were legitimately the best I've seen when it comes to informational talks; they were so smooth, and each elaborated further than they needed to to cement each idea. I really loved the lazy susan bit especially, how it rewound past the starting point, like it had a slight inertia.

[@neesr13]

One of the best presentations I have ever been honored to witness. I only wish I had been there in person to praise the presenter and the artist, both of whom are outstanding in their respective fields.

[@There.Their.Theyre]

I'm giving this video presentation a standing ovation! This was visually stunning, beautiful, and engaging. Thank you!

[@mailmemo]

Great talk. And your explanatory visuals were great too.

[@salvadorsanchez5057]

this is all equally fascinating as it is inspiring. i just fell in love with phyllotactic spyrals. math and art and nature coming together

[@rictolentino4958]

this isnt related to my field at all as a chem phd but i love the way this dude builds up on concepts when hes explaining -- i really wanna emulate his style of presenting

[@92Pyromaniac]

What an inspiring talk! This is the sort of knowledge that I absolutely adore - beautiful and worthy just to behold, but with the potential to become useful in unexpected ways.

[@nitinb9202]

Understanding or learning at childhood and becoming in awe in sixties is life. Thanks KZbin AI.

[@chrissie1057]

thanks... really interesting to have this explained properly.

[@jerryyager2601]

Just had one of those very rare "wow" moments. Need to see more of this!!!

[@alocin110]

Simply Amazing and Mesmerizing! Thanks for sharing.

[@dietermarx5277]

As a math teacher, I say thank you. Live long and prosper.

[@KayWoods64]

Fascinating. Thank you.

[@VestigialHead]

Love this. Thanks for posting it. Just awesome models of some of the complex beauty nature evolves into.

[@1BelovedOne]

THAT, - was absolutely phenomenal!!! THANK YOU!!!

[@gyur6]

beautiful and witty, every frame is a piece of art

[@BlackLizrd]

Gorgeously beautiful designs, well presented in both image and word.

[@Amr-Ibrahim-AI]

This is mind blowing! Thank you so much for this great talk

[@PatricioOta]

Brillante y hermoso! Muchas gracias por compartirlo

[@dbrown8367]

Good to know that curiosity is still leading to amazing discoveries provided you know how to look.

[@TravisRichey]

I can't handle how interesting this is :-) I want to see in person! But thanks for posting this presentation! ~Trav

[@dudemanperson100]

8/5 stars for this one!!! Just finishing my first Abstract Algebra class, and this video just brings about so many thoughts relating to the topics we've covered this semester. ❤️♾️

[@Robot007]

A M A Z I N G!!! Thank you for sharing one of the God's secret of creating nature. Blessings.

[@tocodelray]

Incredibly beautiful!

[@DaliborCarapic]

What a great presentation. No superfluous talk and great visualizations. This guy should teach how to make presentations and talks. Kudos.

[@kitewinds663]

Nice, very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[@Totallyfine29_]

John Edmark is such an inspiring artist , working with nature ,math ,and art is just genius , they all elaborate on each other + I have never thought a microwave would lead to creating cool patterns

[@MottiShneor]

Wonderful, Wonderful movie. Although the "blooming" animations make me dizzy and a little sick, the magic and beauty together with those little math secrets hiding in every such pattern - are worth a million looks (and likes) One of the best "math" videos I've seen a long time Thanks

[@kurtilein3]

Seems like tiny imperfections sort of strobe around and do more damage than expected, and the 3D printing process is a bit grainy and comes with tiny imperfections. Different manufacturing processes or a better, more polished finish could resolve it. I think making it more precise and more smooth could help a lot.

[@tourdeiffel]

Absolutely fascinating !

[@kimsobota1324]

In visual, as well as audio, there are resonant patterns or tones as it were, where the origin pattern passes one of those patterns you described as a "Checkered pattern", back at 5:12 mins into the video. I believe what the eye is perceiving here is the resonant visual frequency of the overall 3D object. It is quite amazing.

[@Amr-Ibrahim-AI]

I love this connection indeed. Very well said, and inspires me to look more into this analogy

[@quinxx12]

That is an incredibly interesting way to think about it!

[@tobberh]

Really cool and very fascinating presentation!!! But was actually surprised he didn't touch on the fact that the 137.5 degrees rotation is the same as the golden angle which is derived from the golden ratio.

[@omarooo9962]

this was really fascinating, thanks for sharing

[@richarddeese1991]

Thanks. That's astounding and beautiful, with deep insights into the nature of life. tavi.

[@Lou.B]

Super cool and amazing!!!

[@davidspivak8343]

So beautiful!

[@jamesb2059]

Great talk. Thank you.

[@Gunbudder]

simply putting things between other things ends up giving you some incredible patterns. the spirals and patterns you see in nature come from new cells just going to where there is the most space. some times you do see plants that create perfect 90 degree symmetry though, with 4 leaves that are evenly spaced around the stalk. generally this only happens when the stock is extremely long such that the leaves can't cast shadows on the ones below them

[@charlestaylor3195]

Absolutely fascinating.

[@jxschv1316]

I just couldn't stop watching this video until it ended.

[@leozendo3500]

Beautiful talk.

[@mixolydian2010]

Amazing stuff thanks.

[@charlesnelson5187]

Excellent presentation.

[@tinybadastronaut]

Damnit. As someone who has gone through many phases of being enamored with the fibonacci spirals and how they relate to nature, this just gave me a whole new invigoration in that fascination.

[@ASHA-jk2pf]

DANCING 💃🕺🧬 These Make Me SO Happy!😁🙌💟💚💕

[@mettattem]

12:06 - Imagine applying this design to the construction of future residential skyscrapers; The 'Stair-Stepping' elements that appear with each 137.5 ° angular change (of floor) could be a series of indoor/outdoor organic garden terraces. In other words, when the structure is in 'Tower Mode', the gardens would be inside the structure and angled slightly (for efficient irrigation,like in vertical farming). I could see it as being something akin to an ultra-modern and efficient transforming indoor/outdoor terraced transformer of a building)... The future is going to be beautiful.

[@hareecionelson5875]

There's plans for another Skyscraper in Dubai that will be taller than the BUurj khalifa and will have a step-like design with 3 spokes and over hanging gardens

[@whiskeymonk4085]

Not if socialists have anything to say about it.

[@michaelleue7594]

@@whiskeymonk4085 Socialists don't build skyscrapers? I think China didn't get the memo.

[@whiskeymonk4085]

@@michaelleue7594 Yeah..... China is a shining example. Do you know about their "ghost cities" and their "tofu concrete"? Look it up bud. Socialism is cancer. Always has been, always will be now matter how you cut it and stack it. China didn't just get the memo, it got the whole encyclopedia on how to run a country perfectly wrong. North Korea loaned them a copy.

[@whiskeymonk4085]

Gotta love yooooootoooobe's new shadow banning practices. I can only see half of the comments, *AND(!)* I can't engage in discourse with people on this thread simply because I don't care for socialism. What a joke! This used to be a platform that encouraged humanity. It's a dried out husk of what it once was. I'm on my 15th account now for just talking as I would with a stranger at the bar.

[@blumousey]

This is amazing, these patterns are related to phi, the golden ratio - and how it is the irrational number that is the least able to be approximated by a fraction of rational numbers. It's the most efficient way to stack things around a point - as if it used a rational angle, things would meet up in cycles and inefficiently stack, and if it used an irrational number that was well approximated, eg pi being close to 22/7, it would *almost* meet and nearly clash. Numberphile has a great video on this.

[@lucasboisneau4256]

super talk, I'm just surprised that you didn't talk about the golden number (1+V5/2)...

[@augenbutter]

I'll never look at my microwave the same way. Grateful for minds, the likes, of John Edmark and Paul Dancstep.

[@mohammedabbas1175]

24:07 This must be the millionth time I rewatched it. So visually and acoustically pleasing.

[@mattcole6292]

Awesome and inspiring

[@Glitch-Gremlin]

19:07 That thing is beautiful in a mathematical, pattern sort of way

[@0cheeseburga]

fantastic presentation

[@rgarlinyc]

Another reason - as if any more was needed - to absolutely be entranced by math. Amazing, amazing, amazing. But I repeat myself.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@Miastrong930]

Amazingly beautiful. Math is in everything. Math, music and art. We must not forget nature. I perceive patterns in everything.

[@gizzykatkat9687]

This talk was so interesting.

[@PeterVJaspersFayer]

No, thank *you*. A beautiful, entertaining, and instructive video.

[@dabaws1938]

Amazing!

[@Crazeyfor67]

That was awesome.

[@williamt5837]

Amazing DESIGNS😉

[@fugyamofug]

19:02 That is amazing What a payoff of a whole lot of thought and a eureka moment

[@franciscohanna2956]

Amazinng!!!

[@vincenzomartorana2625]

Astounding Beauty and comprehension

[@bentsprockettech]

🤯 Amazing! No words.

[@ltandrepants]

fantastic!

[@crazysinister7882]

I’m not a scientist, I’ve never been good in science. I started this video not expecting to understand what’s going on but man you did a great job.

[@Intrafacial86]

As soon as you mentioned needing to rotate multiple levels at proportional amounts, I immediately thought of something like the Lazy Susan (didn't know it was called that lol). I wonder what the spirals look like for 2:3, 1:2, and even 1:1 - or if those spirals are even possible.

[@crabby7668]

The trans tower mechanism is also a technique of mechanical analogue computers. There are some good ex US forces training videos on YT which explain these methods

[@patriciarogers4076]

I love Spirograph too!

[@primorec17]

amazing!!!

[@damianriley990]

This is how i think the real shape of the fabric of the universe(s) works, but in every direction possible at the same time 🖤

[@javiersoto5223]

mind blown!

[@danielwhite4052]

fascinating, thanks.

[@110110pab]

fascinating lecture, I thought I understood Fibonacci patterns but as always, the more you learn the more you realize how little you know. Great Talk Thank you.

[@adambane1719]

Yes, especially scientists.... they actually "know" the least !

[@ThisHandleIsntTook]

Excellent 👌

[@awade4232]

Beautiful presentation. Also, the ratio of neighboring Fibonacci numbers approximates the Golden Ratio; a pattern seen throughout nature. For example, 21/13 ~ 1.62, the Golden Ratio.

[@user-rv2yf7lq7d]

Made my day.

[@214000451]

This video should go spiral!

[@TestEric]

Amazing.

[@user-im3ki7uh7v]

Genial, observar la creación como un niño curioso, es dar con el mejor maestro hacedor de maravillas. Sus criaturas se asombran de su creador. Es sorprendente y curativo

[@marknhopgood]

Bravo!

[@kjamison5951]

We find beauty in all things organic. When we play around with organic things, we find more beauty.

[@RandomPsychic]

I've tried the deep sleep meditation videos.....this one works the BEST! Thanks man.😀

[@starcoreart]

bruh

[@Radugazon]

Very beautiful ! BTW, I think the lazy suzan thing refers to the Aristotle paradox.

[@AlexTrusk91]

imagine going into architekture with these insights

[@Dolores5000]

I love this thank you

[@TakManSan]

15:26 Engineered to being your cup or vessel back in its original orientation if synched up with typical 1-minute increments.

[@Ejeby]

5:10 phyllotactic spiral can only be checkered if both spirals are odd 7:00 chromataxis 10:00 helicone 13:50 lazy susan

[@tedbuck1094]

blowing vesels in my brain already love this stuff brother

[@aurelienyonrac]

Brilliant

[@prashantnair96]

The double pine cone looking thing when spun freely transforms into the typically known shape of DNA. and each piece of the jigsaw is same in shape and just the size increases. Gives a deep insight about the pattern in human evolution (physically and spiritually) With each new generation a new piece is added that's the same in shape but it expands the overall picture

[@kellyhofer]

I wonder what the actual angle is on dna?

[@olivierlabatut9333]

awesome.

[@SahilKashyap64]

wow, john is dope, you too paul.

[@3263927]

wow! wow... don't even understand how to find correct words!!! so great! going to check my favorite pine cone...

[@nimasarlak]

Amazing :-)

[@Olodus]

The shape of those 4-sided polygons the spirals are made of look very similar to the kite shape in the infinite kite-and-dart version of the Penrose tiling. Feels like that is not at random, since they are both connected to Fibonacci numbers, but I am not knowledgeable enough to tell you exactly how or why. I love like this kind of exploratory art though, that finds new ways to explore something about our universe and finds interesting ways to show that.

[@benclancy89]

absolutely brilliant video. Only gripe, I feel there must be an obvious connection between the patterns shown in transtower and the patterns we get with pendulums of increasing length. When the cutouts line up with a specific number of other cutouts each time, it reminds me of the balls of a pendulum lining up in the same way, anyone see the connection?

[@tiltil9442]

interference patterns

[@greenatom]

The configuration of lazy susans at 17:00 can be used to trisect an angle. I wonder if this can be translated to two dimensions so that this could be done using only a compass and straightedge, long held to be impossible?