Video Description
Science writer Margaret Wertheim re-creates the creatures of the coral reefs using a technique invented by a mathematician -- simultaneously celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic underpinnings of coral creation.
Source: TED.com.
Hyperbolic geometry
Hyperbolic geometry, also called Lobachevskian geometry or Bolyai-Lobachevskian geometry, is a non-Euclidean geometry, meaning that the parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced.
To Wertheim, coral reefs, sponges, and slugs exhibit a special form of geometry, called hyperbolic geometry, and the best way to model such natural objects is via crocheting.
Hyperbolic crochet is a technique discovered by mathematician Daina Taimina
of Cornell University.
Coral reefs
Coral reefs are underwater structures
made from calcium carbonate secreted by
corals. Corals are colonies of tiny
living animals found in marine waters
containing few nutrients. Most coral
reefs are built from stony corals, and
are formed by polyps that live together
in groups. The polyps secrete a hard
carbonate exoskeleton which provides
support and protection for the body of
each polyp. Reefs grow best in warm,
shallow, clear, sunny and agitated
waters. Source:
Wikipedia, Coral Reef
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