Curious. Entangled. Director | Chief Editor | Physicist @ Wolfram Research

Joined May 2009
200 Photos and videos
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Fantastic. Mostly ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง(๐ฑ). Name it... Fireeel? Remix in #Wolfram Mathematica. Full code below. x = Range[0., 9999]; k = 4 Cos[x/21]; e = x/1880 - 20; d = Sqrt[k^2 e^2]; m = UnitStep[k^2 - 15]; Manipulate[With[{ q = 3 Sin[2 k] .3/k k*Sin[x/4465](9 2*Sin[14*e-3*d 2*t])}, Graphics[{ Blend[{White, Red}, Sin[t]^2], Opacity[.5], PointSize[.01], Point@Pick[#, m, 1], White, Opacity[.75], PointSize[.0025], Point@Pick[#, m, 0]}&@ Transpose@{q 50*Cos[d-t] 200, 875-q*Sin[d-t]-39*d}, PlotRange -> {{100, 300}, {75, 320}}, Background -> Black]], {t, 0, 2 Pi}]
a=(x,y,d=mag(k=4*cos(x/21),e=y/8-20))=>circle((q=3*sin(k*2) .3/k sin(y/19)*k*(9 2*sin(e*14-d*3 t*2))) 50*cos(c=d-t) 200,q*sin(c) d*39-475,k*k>15?2:1) t=0,draw=$=>{t||createCanvas(w=400,w);background(9).noStroke().fill(w,116);for(t =PI/240,i=1e4;i--;)a(i,i/235)}#ใคใถใ‚„ใProcessing
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โ™จ๏ธ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ญ-๐ฆ๐š๐ฉ boosted molecule diagram: Topologically crowded atoms glow brighter. Lights roll from most to least busy spots. Various chemical metrics can be visualized with color fields (see Wolfram MoleculeValue) ๐Ÿ”ด Wolfram code & article: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ Exact metric name used here: Topological Steric Effect Index (TSEI). Each atom gets a TSEI value: a bond-network estimate of local crowding around that atom. The animation is sorted by TSEI and unrolled from highest to lowest values. Each glow is a smooth function centered on an atom. TSEI sets its amplitude: higher value, brighter light, broader spread.
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Mars is lopsided - called ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐ƒ๐ข๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ. Oceans in North, continents in south - if ones imagines water on Mars at the same 71% surface area as water on Earth. Mars topography is like Yin-Yang symbol: its highest spot Olympus Mons (solar system tallest mountain) is in lowlands North, and its lowest spot Hellas Planitia (one of the largest craters in solar system) is in highlands South. Amazingly simple programing trick gives minimal Wolfram code below to visualize all this fascinating and unique Mars topography. The trick: sample Mars geo-elevation uniformly from equal-area map projection and then quantile points at 71% - the value you get splits lowlands and highlands. If you flood lowlands to that value it yields 71% global water surface. ๐Ÿ”ด WOLFRAM CODE: elSamp = Flatten @ QuantityMagnitude @ GeoElevationData[ GeoProjection -> "CylindricalEqualArea", GeoZoomLevel -> 1, GeoRange -> "World", GeoModel -> "Mars" ]; tHeight = Rescale[Quantile[elSamp, 0.71], MinMax[elSamp]]; GeoGraphics[ GeoModel -> "Mars", GeoRange -> "World", GeoProjection -> "VanDerGrinten", GeoBackground -> GeoStyling["ReliefMap", ColorFunction -> (If[# < tHeight, StandardBlue, StandardOrange] &) ] ]
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๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐ƒ๐ข๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ got two mechanisms: a giant impact and internal magma flow. Over four billion years ago, a Pluto-sized object likely smashed into the northern hemisphere, blasting away the crust to leave a massive basin. Alternatively, a single giant plume of hot magma inside the planet pushed upward, thickening the southern crust. The most accepted theory combines both: the colossal northern asteroid strike generated a thermal shockwave that forced the planet's internal magma to rise and build the elevated southern highlands. Here is also static high resolution poster. Full screen video recommended for elevation texture. Full animation code: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ
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Fantastic. Mostly ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง(๐ฑ). Name it... Fireeel? Remix in #Wolfram Mathematica. Full code below. x = Range[0., 9999]; k = 4 Cos[x/21]; e = x/1880 - 20; d = Sqrt[k^2 e^2]; m = UnitStep[k^2 - 15]; Manipulate[With[{ q = 3 Sin[2 k] .3/k k*Sin[x/4465](9 2*Sin[14*e-3*d 2*t])}, Graphics[{ Blend[{White, Red}, Sin[t]^2], Opacity[.5], PointSize[.01], Point@Pick[#, m, 1], White, Opacity[.75], PointSize[.0025], Point@Pick[#, m, 0]}&@ Transpose@{q 50*Cos[d-t] 200, 875-q*Sin[d-t]-39*d}, PlotRange -> {{100, 300}, {75, 320}}, Background -> Black]], {t, 0, 2 Pi}]
a=(x,y,d=mag(k=4*cos(x/21),e=y/8-20))=>circle((q=3*sin(k*2) .3/k sin(y/19)*k*(9 2*sin(e*14-d*3 t*2))) 50*cos(c=d-t) 200,q*sin(c) d*39-475,k*k>15?2:1) t=0,draw=$=>{t||createCanvas(w=400,w);background(9).noStroke().fill(w,116);for(t =PI/240,i=1e4;i--;)a(i,i/235)}#ใคใถใ‚„ใProcessing
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Three terms to ponder: ๐›๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, and ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐œ๐ฒ. The perceptual lock is strong: it is impossible not to see an animal. Have you heard of the 1917 book "On Growth and Form" by Dโ€™Arcy Thompson (Scottish pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology)? It made a powerful point: biological shape can be studied as geometry, growth, and transformation. Later, theoretical ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž made that idea more explicit: vary a few parameters of a geometric model, and you get a space of possible forms. Some are occupied by nature. Some are mathematically possible but biologically absent.
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This structure can be made w/ Wolfram 1-liner: p=Tuples[Range[-2,2],4] . I^{0,1,4/3,7/3}; RelationGraph[Abs[#1-#2]==1&,p, VertexCoordinates->ReIm@p] That's static full graph. RandomSample links, add them 1 by 1, and you get this animation.
Following up on the suggestion from Will Sawin, here is an illustration of the new configurations that disprove Erdos' unit distance conjecture (made with the help of ChatGPT 5.5 Thinking).
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โ„šuantum VS โ„‚lassical ๐†๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐š๐ซ๐ โ„‚: one bead, one path, normal distribution from many trials; โ„š: one wave packet, all paths, interference rewrites distribution via probability density of wave function. #Wolfram code: wolfr.am/1DML7FbXd
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Cover of prominent chemistry journal features a stunning structure made with Wolfram Language. When an unbound electron appears in the water a lot of things change around it. It is called a hydrated electron and it is in the center of its environment in the video.
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The cover of The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters ( FEB 2026). PAPER: doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.โ€ฆ CODE: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ
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"Most-Viewed People on Wikipedia in 2025", my new article. Novel Social Memory wolfr.am/SOCIAL-MEMORY log ratio of post- to pre- catalyst event median Wikipedia pageviews, measuring how a catalyst event resets collective baseline attention. Comment If you know similar measures.
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โš›๏ธ In ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐ž๐ฅ of ๐›๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ space itself flows... River of space falls into black hole at Newtonian escape velocity, hitting light speed at horizon. Newton particle-grid with Wolfram differential equations gives a qualitative proxy for the visual: ๐Ÿ”ด Wolfram code & article: lnkd.in/dp6gk2gK ABSTRACT excerpt: "The river model of black holes": "The river model is mathematically sound, yet simple enough that the basic picture can be understood by non-experts. In the river model, space itself flows like a river through a flat background, while objects move through the river according to the rules of special relativity. In a spherical black hole, the river of space falls into the black hole at the Newtonian escape velocity, hitting the speed of light at the horizon. Inside the horizon, the river flows inward faster than light, carrying everything with it."
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How-to "see" 4th dimension in simple steps: ...using ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ซ ๐จ๐›๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ. 1๏ธโƒฃ This 4D object = donut; 2๏ธโƒฃ Cut typical 3D donut across its tube; 3๏ธโƒฃ The shape of the cut is usual 2D circle; 4๏ธโƒฃ Generalize by 1: cut 4D donut and get 3D shapes at the cut. Which is similar to the red tubes in video. Those red tubes are shape of cuts when our familiar 3D space slices 4D donut. And they are similar to our typical 3D donuts! What's your favorite application of higher dimensions? TREFOIL KNOT & UNKNOT Another stunning part in the video is gorgeous ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ญ falling apart into 2 separate rings and then reconnecting again into ๐ฎ๐ง๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ญ -- starting at t =12 seconds. I highly recommend to pause and slowly scroll through this structure. Its formation is analogical to how you twist 180ยฐ a paper band to make a Mรถbius strip. For details and code see: ๐Ÿ”ด Wolfram code & article: lnkd.in/eM5vES5x APHANTASIA & ABSTRACT THINKING ๐€๐ฉ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐š is the inability to visualize in the mind. Some people cannot form images in their thoughts, for example imagining an apple. Surprisingly people with aphantasia have ability to think of higher dimensions through the power of abstraction. Grasping very visual entities even with no ability to visualize. The mind is truly a mystery.
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๐“œ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ฅ๐›๐ซ๐จ๐ญ fractal encodes ๐“™๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ข๐š fractals. Video: ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ญ in ๐“œ defines connectivity of ๐“™. Both ๐“œ and ๐“™ fractals are defined as ๐™ โ†ฆ ๐™ยฒ ๐‚ The difference? ๐“œ plots ๐‚, and ๐“™ plots ๐™. The white dot (parameter ๐‚) travels in ๐“œ set (corners) and the corresponding ๐“™ set is plotted in the center. Thus: ๐“œ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ฅ๐›๐ซ๐จ๐ญ is an atlas for ๐“™๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ข๐š. It means each point ๐‚ (white dot) in ๐“œ set tells you the structure of the corresponding ๐“™ set. If white dot inside ๐“œ then ๐“™(๐‚) is one connected whole. If white dot outside ๐“œ then ๐“™(๐‚) shatters into dust. So the Mandelbrot works like a map: by scanning parameter space ๐‚, you can classify every possible Julia set for connectivity. In Wolfram Language simplest code can plot these fractals. For example, functions below helped to make this video. Plot Mandelbrot: MandelbrotSetPlot[] or even create interactive apps for Julia: Manipulate[JuliaSetPlot[Complex @@ p, PlotRange->1.5], {p, Locator}] Despite few-symbol definition ๐™ โ†ฆ ๐™ยฒ ๐‚ no finite computation exhausts an infinite fractal. Any algorithm gives only approximations. When facing infinitely intricate, infinitely explorable universes, the power of mathematical abstraction is to encode infinite in finite symbolic form. A few fun facts:
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๐“๐จ๐ค๐ฒ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐›๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ is 99% on-time, world's best. But how lines can be shaped by ๐„๐๐จ ๐๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ (1603โ€“1868)? Try to guess before reading further ๐Ÿ‘‡ Each dot is a train (real data) ramping up to one of the world highest peak frequencies. Goes ~40m deep. Tokyo's subway structure is quite complex. Japan has a law that land ownership extends to surface and underground. So land fee is due for subway construction. Unless... subway runs under the roads owned by the state or municipality, then underground is free for public interest. But the roads in Tokyo are made by filling the roads and waterways remaining from Edo period. They curve and run radially fitting the old Edo Castle. And that's how 1603โ€“1868 shape modern subway. ๐˜ž๐˜–๐˜“๐˜๐˜™๐˜ˆ๐˜” ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ The whole data mining and visualization pipeline is done in Wolfram. Code base is quite small (see link above) due to large ~10K Wolfram function vocabulary and some packing neat algorithms like FindShortestTour used here.
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๐ŸŸฅ or ๐ŸŸฆ floats above the other? This stereo illusion (๐œ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ) needs both eyes: close one and illusion is gone. ๐๐จ๐ข๐๐ฌ or ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž type algorithm used in simulation - expand for tiny code๐Ÿ‘‡ Wolfram Mathematica code (do you get what it does?): n=3000;f:=(#/(.01 Sqrt[# . #]))&/@(x[[#]]-x)&; x=Table[{Sin[a],-Cos[a]},{a,0.,2\[Pi],2\[Pi]/(n-1)}]; p=Table[Mod[i 1,n] 1,{i,n}];q=RandomInteger[{1,n},n]; Graphics[{Dynamic[Point[x=0.995 x 0.02 f[p]-0.01 f[q]]]}]
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๐Š๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ž'๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ: There is a ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ค๐š๐ ๐ž that signs your name. Proves a linkage exists to draw any algebraic planar curve. But to prove is NOT to design elegantly. Novel elegant method: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ
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๐Œ๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐ƒ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž wanted! Why recursion makes spirals? a[n_] := Rescale[ a[n - 1] - GradientFilter[a[n - 1], 2] ] 1๏ธโƒฃ ๐š --matrix or tensor of values โˆˆ [0, 1] 2๏ธโƒฃ ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ž --keeps ๐š values โˆˆ [0, 1] 3๏ธโƒฃ ๐†๐ซ๐š๐๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐…๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ --discrete data gradient
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๐–๐จ๐ฅ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ code is very short: ๐•’[1] = RandomReal[1, 20 {1, 1, 1}]; ๐•’[n_] := ๐•’[n] = Rescale[๐•’[n - 1] - GradientFilter[๐•’[n - 1], 2]] Manipulate[๐•’[k]^10 // Image3D, {k, 1, 700, 1}] Full original discussion by ๐’๐ข๐ฆ๐จ๐ง ๐–๐จ๐จ๐๐ฌ: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ

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In the video this recursion is applied many times to a 3D table of values, shown as 3D image. ๐’๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ž. Video runs evolution backwards to the initial random values, and then forward in time with slightly different visualization technique.
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๐ƒ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ฎ๐ง๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ”ฒ & ๐•๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ข ๐ŸŸฆ meshes are DUALS of each other. ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐Ÿ”ฒ & ๐ŸŸฆ edges are โŠฅ. ๐Ÿ”ฒ vertices <=> ๐ŸŸฆ cells. ๐Ÿ”ฒ triangles <=> ๐ŸŸฆ vertices. CODE: community.wolfram.com/groupsโ€ฆ
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