BuzzWord Magazine - by Nicole Magagnotti Panizza by Prof. Antonino Benincasa

BU ZZ

ISSUE

N°05 EU € 5,27 US $ 6,00

8th January 2019

WO RD

Patterns in Nature Why the natural world looks the way it does? How do we see so much beauty around us? Let’s appreciate it together.

UK £ 4,69 AUS $ 8,20

INDEX

The World of Plants

What are Patterns

The Beauty of Ice

Explains the definition of natural patterns with the classification of different categories and a close look at the reasons why such

Pictures of ice and six-fold simmetry of snowflakes.

Why are fractals so geometrically perfect? How is it possible that some plants have their own natural simmetry? Everything happens

Passion Fruit

Cracks

Emotion Pictures of fruits with a mirror or radial simmetry.

07 Waves and Dunes The power of sea waves mixed with the perfection of sand dunes.

05 Aerial Patterns The science and history behind aerial photography. Photogammetry technique and aerial survey.

How do crakcs form in nature? How is it possible that something gets even more beautiful once destroyed

08 Animals How do some animals have such a perfect geometric fur with spots or stripes? How do they biologically create such stunning patterns?

WHAT ARE PATTERNS?

A ll around us, we see a great diver-

sity of living things, from the microscopic to the gigantic, from the simple to the complex, from bright colors to dull ones. One of the most intriguing things we see in nature is patterns. We tend to think of patterns as sequences or designs that are orderly and that repeat. But we can also think of patterns as anything that is not random. For example, we recognize the spots on a giraffe or on a cheetah as a pattern, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not regular, nor are any of the spots the same size, color or shape.

A pattern is an arrangement of lines or shapes, especially a design in which the same shape is repeated at regular intervals over a surface.

Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spirals, meanders, waves, foams, tessellations, cracks and stripes. Early Greek philosophers studied pattern, with Plato, Pythagoras and Empedocles attempting to explain order in nature. In the 19th century, Belgian Joseph Plateau examined soap films, leading him to formulate the concept of a minimal surface. German biologist and Ernst Haeckel painted hundreds of marine organisms to emphasise their symmetry. Biology D'Arcy Thompson pioneered the study of growth patterns in both plants and animals, showing that simple equations could explain spiral growth.

In the 20th century, British mathematician Alan Turing predicted mechanisms of morphogesis which give rise to patterns of spots and stripes. Hungarian biologist Lindenmayer and French American mathematician Benoît Juan Mandelbrot showed how the mathematics of fractals could create plant growth patterns. Mathematics, physics and chemistry can explain patterns in nature at different levels. Patterns in living things are explained by the biological processes of the natural selection and sexual selection. Studies of pattern formation make use of computer models to simulate a wide range of patterns.

Right Photographer Aaron Burden © Unsplash Chinese plants

Left Photographer Helmin Adnan © Unsplash Aerial forest

THE BEA UTY OF ICE

Photographer Aaron Burden © Unsplash Snowflake sixfold symmetry

Top Photographer Aaron Burden © Unsplash Ice sphere

Photographer Adam Jang © Unsplash Ice cave

PLANTS

Photographer Erol Ahmed Â© Pexels Japanese plants

Fractals are never-ending patterns and are infinitely complex motives that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Driven by recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems, or the pictures of Chaos. Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are extremely familiar, since nature is full of fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes. They are infinitely self-similar, iterated mathematical constructs having fractal dimension. Infinite iteration is not possible in nature so all ‘fractal’ patterns are only approximate. For example, the leaves of ferns and umbellifers (Apiaceae) are only self-similar to 2, 3 or 4 levels. Fern-like growth patterns occur in plants and in animals including bryozoa, corals, hydrozoa like the air fern, Sertularia argentea, and in non-living things, notably electrical discharges.

Lindenmayer system fractals can model different patterns of tree growth by varying a small number of parameters including branching angle, distance between nodes or branch points (internode length), and number of branches per branch point. Fractal-like patterns occur widely in nature, in phenomena as diverse as clouds, river networks, geologic faults of lines, mountains, coastlines, animal coloration, snow flakes, crystals, blood vessel branching, actin cytoskeleton, and ocean waves Succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants that have some parts that are more than normally thickened and fleshy, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word “succulent” comes from the Latin word sucus, meaning juice, or sap. Succulent plants may store water in various structures, such as leaves and stems. They are well known for their rotational and bilateral symmetry and their natural beauty since they always create stunning patterns.

Nature isn’t just beautiful. Even in small doses, it changes the way we feel.

FRACTAL PATTE IN NATURE AND

Humans are visual creatures. Objects we cal or “aesthetic” are a crucial part of our huma

Although aesthetics is often regarded as an vague quality, we are using sophisticated tec quantify it and its impact on the observer.

ARE AESTHETIC PLEASING AND

ERNS D ART

ll “beautiful” anity.

ill-defined chniques to

CALLY

When it comes to aesthetics, who better to study than famous artists? They are, after all, the visual experts. My research group took this approach with Jackson Pollock, who rose to the peak of modern art in the late 1940s by pouring paint directly from a can onto horizontal canvases laid across his studio floor. Although battles raged among Pollock scholars regarding the meaning of his splattered patterns, many agreed they had an organic, natural feel to them. My scientific curiosity was stirred when I learned that many of nature’s objects are fractal, featuring patterns that repeat at increasingly fine magnifications. For example, think of a tree. First you see the big branches growing out of the trunk. Then you see smaller versions growing out of each big branch. As you keep zooming in, finer and finer branches appear, all the way down to the smallest twigs. In 1999, my group used computer pattern analysis techniques to show that Pollock’s paintings are as fractal as patterns found in natural scenery. Since then, more than 10 different groups have performed various forms of fractal analysis on his paintings. Pollock’s ability to express nature’s fractal aesthetics helps explain the enduring popularity of his work. The impact of nature’s aesthetics is surprisingly powerful. In the 1980s, architects found that patients recovered more quickly from surgery when given hospital rooms with windows look-

ing out on the goregous nature around them.

Collaborating with psychologists and neuroscientists, we measured people’s responses to fractals found in nature (using photos of natural scenes), art (Pollock’s paintings) and mathematics (computer generated images) and discovered a universal effect we labeled “fractal fluency.” Through exposure to nature’s fractal scenery, people’s visual systems have adapted to efficiently process fractals with ease. We found that this adaptation occurs at many stages of the visual system, from the way our eyes move to which regions of the brain get activated. This fluency puts us in a comfort zone and so we enjoy looking at fractals. Crucially, we used EEG to record the brain’s electrical activity and skin conductance techniques to show that this aesthetic experience is accompanied by stress reduction of 60 percent – a surprisingly large effect for a nonmedicinal treatment.

P A S S I O N F R U I T

Left Photographer Brooke Lark © Unsplash

Right Photographer Brooke Lark © Unsplash

Citrus fruits

Pineapple close-up

“DON’T LET THE FEAR OF FALLING DOWN KEEP YOU AWAY FROM FLYING HIGH.”

Aerial photography, technique of photographing the Earth’s surface or features of its atmosphere or hydrosphere with cameras mounted on aircraft, rockets, or Earthorbiting satellites and other spacecraft. For the mapping of terrestrial features, aerial photographs usually are taken in overlapping series from an aircraft following a systematic flight pattern at a fixed altitude. Each photograph depicts an area that includes several control points, the locations of which are determined by ground-surveying techniques. A technique known as photogrammetry, which involves the simultaneous projection of overlapping views, makes possible the preparation of contour maps or three-dimensional models of the terrestrial surface that has been photographed. Valuable data on topography, geology, hydrology, soil and vegetation, meteorology, ocean currents, and fish resources have become accessible with the use of satellite technology and expert interpretation.

Aerial survey is a method of collecting geomatics or other imagery by using airplanes, helicopters, UAVs, balloons or other aerial methods. Typical types of data collected include aerial photography, Lidar, remote sensing (using various visible and invisible bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as infrared, gamma, or ultraviolet) and also geophysical data (such as aeromagnetic surveys and gravity. It can also refer to the chart or map made by analysing a region from the air. Aerial survey should be distinguished from satellite imagery technologies because of its better resolution, quality and atmospheric conditions (which can negatively impact and obscure satellite observation). Today, aerial survey is sometimes recognized as a synonym for aerophotogrammetry, part of photogrammetry where the camera is placed in the air. Measurements on aerial images are provided by photogrammetric technologies and methods.

Top Left Photographer NASA © Unsplash

Top Right Photographer Daniel Grodzinski © Unsplash

Aerial channels

Aerial countryside

Bottom Left Photographer Daniel Grodzinski © Unsplash

Bottom Right Photographer Andreas Gucklhorn © Unsplash

Aerial seaside and trees

Aerial sea and forest

Cracks are linear openings that form in materials to relieve stress. When an elastic material stretches or shrinks uniformly, it eventually reaches its breaking strength and then fails suddenly in all directions, creating cracks with 120 degree joints, so three cracks meet at a node. Conversely, when an inelastic material fails, straight cracks form to relieve the stress. Thus the pattern of cracks indicates whether the material is elastic or not. In a tough fibrous material like oak tree bark, cracks form to relieve stress as usual, but they do not grow long as their growth is interrupted by bundles of strong elastic fibres. Since each species of tree has its own structure at the levels of cell and of molecules, each has its own pattern of splitting in its bark. Concrete crack patterns are symptoms of underlying conditions. As such, the size, shape, direction of propagation, correlation with other cracks, angles, length, and other such factors are taken into account in order to study their formation.

Functionalized thin films of ceramic material are used in catalytic converters as a catalyst support. A degradation of the catalytic performances can be caused by thermal and chemical effects leading to the formation of cracks and the detachment of fragments. Understanding the formation of the lattice of cracks and the spalling is challenging in fracture mechanics. The need for two conditions for predicting crack nucleation, one involving energy and the other stresses, is shown. The stress condition defines a threshold below which the pattern formation is inhibited. As long as it is not reached, the energy accumulates. Then, at onset, depending on the strength and toughness of the material, the amount of energy can be sufficiently large to give rise to a more or less dense lattice of cracks. Following initiation, the newly created small fragments tend to separate from it by debonding.

There is a crack in everything. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how the light comes in.

Cracks are linear openings that form in materials to relieve stress creating patterns.

Photographer Simon Stankowsi © Unsplash Wood

Photographer Cristian Baluta © Unsplash Ice cracking

Photographer Brad Helmik © Unsplash Dried ground

WAV E S AND DUNES

Waves are disturbances that carry energy as they move. Mechanical waves propagate through a medium, air or water, making it oscillate as they pass by. Wind waves are sea surface waves that create the characteristic chaotic pattern of any large body of water, though their statistical behaviour can be predicted with wind wave models. As waves in water or wind pass over sand, they create patterns of ripples. When winds blow over large bodies of sand, they create dunes, sometimes in extensive dune fields as in the Taklamakan desert. Dunes may form a range of patterns including crescents, very long straight lines, stars, domes, parabolas, and longitudinal or seif (‘sword’) shapes.

Seaside

Sand

Sand Dunes

S Y M M E T R Y.

However, it is unclear whether the flexible two-dimensional colour patterns also produce intermediate forms, and, if so, what pattern is the precise ‘intermediate’ between similar but different colourations, such as ‘white spots on a black background’ and ‘black spots on a white background’.So far, many attempts have been made to reproduce flexible colour patterns in animals by using mathematical modelling. Among them, a specific class of reaction-diffusion (RD) systems14 have been frequently used, which can account for many complex biological patterns15,16 on the basis of a simple rule: local self-activation and long-ranging inhibition. The RD model also provided an unexpected prediction for the dynamic processes of colour pattern rearrangement on actual animals7,8, implying that it captures the very essence of the flexible colour pattern formation mechanisms.

By the gradual modulation of a certain parameter in the RD model equations, various two-dimensional patterns can be reproduced, including spot patterns and inverse spot patterns. Assuming that one continuous parameter is determined by multiple 'genetic loci' (that is, polygenic inheritance) and that any 'individuals' having different parameter values can be 'crossed' with each other, the resultant 'hybrid' will have a parameter value that is intermediate between those of the 'parents'. On the basis of the simulation results, we focused on the following point: regardless of the model equations and parameters chosen for the simulation, if there are two parameter regions that yield spot and inverse spot patterns, an intermediate region must exist in which camouflaged 'labyrinthine' patterns will arise.

There are only pattern on top of patterns, pat affect other patterns. hidden by patterns an patterns. If you watch does nothing but repe What we call chaos is we haven't recognized random is just pattern decipher. what we can we call nonsense. Wha read we call gibberish free will. There are no

ns, patterns atterns that Patterns nd within h close, history eat itself. just patterns d. What we call ns we can't n't understand at we can't h. There is no variables.

Moreover, colour patterns of some animals are dynamically and autonomously rearranged to resolve pattern inconsistency caused by body growth or artificial disturbance, indicating the flexible property of underlying mechanisms.

Biologists have long been fascinated by the amazing diversity of animal patterns. Despite much interest, the underlying evolutionary and developmental mechanisms contributing to their rich variety remain largely unknown, especially the vivid and complex colour patterns seen in vertebrates. Here, we show that complex and camouflaged animal markings can be formed by the blending of simple colour patterns. A mathematical model predicts that crossing between animals having inverted spot patterns (for example, ‘light spots on a dark background’ and ‘dark spots on a light background’) will necessarily result in hybrid offspring that have camouflaged labyrinthine patterns as ‘blended’ intermediate phenotypes.

White spots on a black background and black spots on a white background. We confirmed the broad applicability of the model prediction by empirical examination of natural and artificial hybrids of salmonid fish. Our results suggest an unexplored evolutionary process by means of ‘pattern blending’, as one of the possible mechanisms underlying colour pattern diversity and hybrid speciation.Animals have various colour patterns on their body surfaces, providing vivid examples of the enormous biodiversity. Recent studies have revealed the evolutionary and developmental mechanisms underlying the diversity in some colour patterns, such as black spots on insect wings. These spot patterns seem to be formed from genetically encoded blueprints: spatially restricted expression of certain genes that are controlled by multiple cis-regulatory elements. Thus, these patterns can be thought of as ‘fixed’ traits within each species, and, therefore, a hybrid offspring between species that have different spot patterns will have a superimposed image of the parent patterns6 as a natural consequence of the ‘sum’ of two different cis-regulatory element sets from both parents. On the other hand, some other colour patterns observed in nature seem to be more complicated and flexible, everything happens for a reason.

08 BLACK & WHITE.

All cats, wild or domestic, are born with their particular pattern, which may be due to an establishing process that is only active during early development. When this process is shut off the pattern is fixed, so as the surface area of the cat increases the markings will expand, but no additional spots or stripes are added. However, very little is known about how these markings are formed and controlled.

Striped Zebras Spotted Ceetahs All zebras have stripes, but there are significant variations by region. Some have heavy black and white striping over their entire body while others have reduced stripe coverage or thinner and lighter stripes. Temperature has the strongest association with the zebra stripe patterns, particularly temperature consistency in the area and average temperature during the coldest months of the year.

The natural world presents a palette of beautiful complexity. From the peacock plumage and the eyespots of a butterfly, to the evolving camouflage of the chameleon, nature loves patterns. Biologists may be able to tell you why an animal has a certain pattern. For example, it may have evolved its skin pattern for mating purposes, as a warning sign, or for defence purposes. However, we are still in the dark when it comes to how the patterns are produced. Although we currently lack the experimental insight, mathematicians have been playing around with pattern formation equations since 1952, when the great Alan Turing published the seminal paper, The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis. In this paper, he presented a theory that said patterns could spontaneously appear using nothing more than a protein’s natural tendency to move randomly through tissue and interact with other cells and proteins. The theory is incredibly, admiring counter-intuitive.

These theories are incredibly counter-intuitive, and we can only wonder how Turing discovered them. Patterns, as Turing saw them, depend on two components: interacting agents and agent diffusion. Each component on its own does not create a pattern. In fact, diffusion is a well-known pattern destroyer: if you put milk in water, the milk will diffuse out across the cup. You don’t end up with spots, or stripes of milk. You just have a cup of uniform milky water. Turing’s genius saw through this and he demonstrated that if you combine these two components in just the right way, diffusion could actually drive the system to form spots and stripes. This idea was so far ahead of its time that we are still working on unravelling its complexity 65 years later. Unfortunately, biology refuses to be so simple. Diffusion assumes that the agents which create a pattern , for example chemiclas, proteins or cells, are really dumb, in that they move around space randomly.

Striped Zebra

Ceetah

The unexplainable mistery behind the limitless beauty of spots and stripes on animals.

CREDITS Free University of Bolzano - Bozen Faculty of Design and Art Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design WUP 18/19 | 1st semester foundation course Project Module: Editorial Design Design by: Nicole Magagnotti Panizza Magazine | BuzzWord Supervision: Project leader Prof. Antonino Benincasa Project assistants Maximilian Boiger, Gian Marco Favretto Photography: Aaron Burden, Adam Jang, Andreas Gucklhorn, Andrew Pons, Brad Helmik, Brooke Lark, Cristian Baluta, Daniel Grodzinski Erol Ahmed, George Desipris, Helmin Adnan, Meric Dagli, NASA Photography, Ondrei Suri, Paul van Cotthem, Samuel Scrimshaw, Schifaaz Shamon, Simon Stankowski

Paper: Color Copy Coated Glossy 170gr. Sunifluo Yellow 250gr. Fonts: Gotham - Titles and headlines Baskerville - Main text Futura - Didascalia Printed: Bozen-Bolzano, January 2019 Inside pages â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Digital Print | Canon Cover â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Digital Print | Canon

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BuzzWord - Issue N05 - 8th January 2019 Layout curated by Nicole Magagnotti Panizza