Momentary Cheese Alert!

I do not celebrate Valentine's Day. I find the corporatisation of romance cynical and unlovely. But that day is coming up pretty soon, and it seems that my world is being over-run by stomach-churningly twee products I am exhorted to purchase in order to prove my love for piranhaboy. No thanks.

So when I stumbled on this loveheart I flicked straight past it with a tiny shudder, and it took a moment longer for my brain to register what I'd really seen.

I adore images like this: I have a very clear memory from years ago of my brain fizzing with joy the first time I saw a representation of a Mobius strip. This heart (designed by Renzo Toepoel) brings to mind the gorgeous work of Oscar Reutersvard, the creator of the very first "premeditated impossible figure", the Penrose Triangle (named for one of the co-founders of the Big Bang theory). Reutersvard designed the Penrose Triangle in 1934 at the age of nineteen, and created over two and a half thousand more impossible figures before his death in 2002. His work inspired the much better-known M.C. Escher but Reutersvard's own more purely geometric designs are quite breathtakingly beautiful alone - far more beautiful than (oh, just as an example) those stomach-churningly twee products I was railing against at the beginning of this admittedly rambling post.

You can find more images of and information on Oscar Reutersvard's designs here, here and here. And hey, if it is your thing - happy Valentine's day.

Singularity Knots

Hey there! Hello. I'm the other geek here in the lab. This is something that's making my brain fizz right now - animations of singularity knots. They show just how pretty maths can be.