Pollock's Fractals

So you go on various news sites while you're at work and read through all the main headline news articles, procrastinating away the morning. You start off alright, with something like this...

New York Times: Obama Reiterates Desire for Comprehensive Budget Package






...buuuuuuut you end up reading increasingly unimportant articles until eventually you end up here...

http://perezhilton.com/category/kim-kardashian

It's okay. We all do it. I love a bit of Perez as much as the next girl...You go into History afterwards and delete the incriminating evidence and then scramble to assuage your guilt over reading such rubbish by finding something intelligent and 'worthy' to read.

It's always good to have quality sites in your History just in case your computer crashes and you have to call the IT guys. Just as your mother may have advised you to always wear nice underwear in case you end up in hospital (yeah... I never quite got that one either. I think doctors in the ER have more pressing things to worry about... But it's a good enough analogy in this case I guess), you should always have a nice web history in case your computer crashes and the IT guys stumble upon it.

Jackson Pollock

So read something you can be proud to leave on your web history. Pollock's Fractals is a few years old now, but as with many of Discover Magazine's articles, its fascinating subject matter is timeless.

As a side note, if you are reading fun but useless articles about Kim Kardashian and leaving inane comments on the absurdity that "this is NEWS?!" please stop. Of course it's not news, but you did click on it, so why the outrage?

Anyway, read Jennifer Ouellette's piece about Pollock's Fractals. Do it. Now. And leave me a comment to tell me what you think!

And maybe afterwards, you can catch up on what Kourtney Kardashian thinks of Kris Jenner's facelift...

Until next time, xxj

Does Origami Help with Medical Research?

The answer is YES it does! Cu-razy, huh?

I watched a fantastic lecture on YouTube last night (another rockin' night for me!) as part of the Museum of Mathematics channel. MIT professor Erik Demaine's lecture "The Geometry of Origami" is part of MoMath's Math Encounters series which aims to diversify and expand the general public's interest and understanding in mathematics.

You can find a direct link to Part 1 of 4 of Erik Demaine's lecture here.

The first three parts deal primarily with the relationship between origami folding and mathematics. There are mentions here and there of applications such as working out mathematically the most efficient way to fold an airbag flat in a car, but it is not until the 4th part of the lecture that he talks about really interesting practical applications relating to biomathematics and medical research.

In particular, Demaine's explains that linkage folding can be used to see how proteins in the body fold in 3 dimensions. Demaine outlines applications in research of diseases and the folding of proteins to capture bad proteins while leaving the others in tact.

So yeah, this is really great stuff, but... well it's all a bit science-y and serious.

You know when else these mathematics-based folding techniques are applied?

Designing Transformers!

Mmmmm, pi....