| Russia Defers Razing of Seed Repository A modest reprieve for a seed bank that is home to the world's largest collection of European fruits and berries. feeds.nytimes.com |
Essex beaches closed after oil spill People have been told to stay away from a beach in Essex where an oil slick has washed ashore, that is believed to have leaked from a boat in the Thames Estuary. bbc.co.uk |
Nobel physics prize for ultrathin carbon discovery By KARL RITTER and LOUISE NORDSTROM 2010-10-05T15:05:17ZSTOCKHOLM (AP) -- Two Russian-born scientists shared the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for groundbreaking experiments with the strongest and thinnest material known to mankind - a potential building block for faster computers and lighter airplanes and satellites.... hosted.ap.org |
And now, a few words from the grandfather I wish I had In this video, recorded in February 2010, we see Dr Mandelbrot develop a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 -- the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem undefinably complicated.Benoît B. Mandelbrot died a few days ago from pancreatic cancer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 85. He was a French and American mathematician (and a citizen of both countries), best known as the father of fractal geometry. Dr Mandelbrot coined the term "fractal" to refer to a new class of mathematical shapes whose uneven contours could mimic the irregularities found in nature. "I decided to go into fields where mathematicians would never go because the problems were badly stated," Dr Mandelbrot said. "I have played a strange role that none of my students dare to take." In a seminal book, The Fractal Geometry of Nature [Amazon UK; Amazon US], published in 1982, Dr Mandelbrot defended mathematical objects that he said others had dismissed as "monstrous" and "pathological." Using fractal geometry, he argued, the complex outlines of clouds and coastlines, once considered unmeasurable, could now "be approached in rigorous and vigorous quantitative fashion." Dr Mandelbrot was considered an outsider for most of his career. But he was also a Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Emeritus at Yale University; IBM Fellow Emeritus at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center; and a Battelle Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "If you take the beginning and the end, I have had a conventional career," Dr Mandelbrot said, referring to his prestigious appointments in Paris and at Yale. "But it was not a straight line between the beginning and the end," he continued, comparing his own career trajectory to the rough outlines of clouds and coastlines that drew him into the study of fractals in the 1950s. "It was a very crooked line." In this video, recorded in February 2010, we see Dr Mandelbrot develop a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 -- the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem undefinably complicated.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Fins to flight How flying fish dealt with the question of whether two wings are better than four news.bbc.co.uk |