Universe gif. Fractal Sculptures with Magnetic Ferrofluid. The combination of art and science can have mind-boggling results.
Like Ferrofluid which becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field to an extent that it creates 3-dimensional fractal patterns and sculptures. (It is made by dissolving nanoscale ferromagnetic particles in a solvent such as water or oil.) The liquid has such lovely visual qualities when magnetized, and a Japanese artist, Sachiko Kodama, took advantage of this property to create stunning artwork using ferrofluid and electromagnets. We recommend watching the video that shows bits of this fluid move in synchronization with sound and transform into organic fractal patterns. Alice in Quantumland: A Charming Illustrated Allegory of Quantum Mechanics by a CERN Physicist.
By Maria Popova Down the rabbit hole of antimatter, or how to believe six impossible things about gender stereotypes before breakfast.
As a lover of science and of all things Alice in Wonderland, imagine my delight at discovering Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics (public library) — an imaginative and unusual 1995 quantum primer by particle physicist Robert Gilmore, who has under his belt experience at Stanford and CERN. Besides the clever concept, two things make the book especially remarkable: It flies in the face of gender stereotypes with a female protagonist who sets out to make sense of some of the most intense science of all time, and it features Gilmore’s own magnificent illustrations for a perfect intersection of art and science, true to recent research indicating that history’s most successful scientists also dabbled in the arts. Gilmore writes in the preface: In the first half of the twentieth century, our understanding in the Universe was turned upside down.