Posts Tagged ‘Ben & Jerry’s’
“Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union”*…
In the quote above, Frank Lloyd Wright was glossing his mentor, Louis Sullivan… He might have been alluding to the work of L. Mahadevan. In a conversation with Steven Strogatz, Mahadeven explains how complex biological forms and behaviors– from brain folds to insect architecture– emerge through the interplay of physical forces, environment and embodiment…
What links a Möbius strip, brain folds and termite mounds? The answer is Harvard University’s L. Mahadevan, whose career has been devoted to using mathematics and physics to explore the form and function of common phenomena.
Mahadevan, or Maha to his friends and colleagues, has long been fascinated by questions one wouldn’t normally ask — from the equilibrium shape of inert objects like a Möbius strip, to the complex factors that drive biological systems like morphogenesis or social insect colonies…
… Mahadevan tells Steven Strogatz what inspires him to tackle these questions, and how gels, gypsum and LED lights can help uncover form and function in biological systems. He also offers some provocative thoughts about how noisy random processes might underlie our intuitions about geometry…
… STROGATZ: I feel like it’s relevant for our discussion today because it seems like you’ve been interested in this interplay between shape and force, certainly from your early work and it looks like you’re still thinking about it these days.
MAHADEVAN: Partly, yes. I would say a lot of what I am trying to do nowadays is more biologically motivated and inspired. But flow, shape and increasingly now thinking about sentient systems, understanding how we learn what we learn. I’m very much interested in embodiment as a way in which sentient organisms find their way and function in the world… and particularly with social insects, but a little bit with humans as well…
“Does Form Really Shape Function?” It’s so much more interesting than that… @stevenstrogatz.com and @quantamagazine.bsky.social.
(Image above: source)
* Frank Lloyd Wright
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As we blend, we might recall that it was on this date in 1987 that Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream introduced a new flavor, Cherry Garcia.
R.I.P…
Alongside its Waterbury, Vermont factory, surrounded by a white picket fence, stands Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard, arrayed with the headstones of especially beloved– or particularly despised– flavors…
See more monuments to melted dreams at Messy Nessy Chic.
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As we lower our spoons to half mast, we might spare a thought for Clarence Nash; he died on this date in 1985. While never as well known as Mel Blanc, Nash was the voice actor who created one of the most recognizable characters in American film history: he voiced Donald Duck.
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