Cthulhu cosmology, Halloween outfits with a physics twist and more

By Tushna Commissariat

It’s not often that classical physics and Post-Impressionist painters collide, but when they do the results can be enchanting and intriguing. In one of the latest TEDEd videos, Natalya St Clair has created a short lesson that looks at “The unexpected math behind Van Gogh’s Starry Night.” The video above looks at the enduring mystery that is the turbulence we see in any kind of flows in the natural world and how the human brain can recognize and actually make some kind of sense of the chaotic random patterns turbulence describes.

As pointed out in the video, famous physicists such as Richard Feynman and Werner Heisenberg have noted the complexity of turbulence, with Feynman describing it as “the most important unsolved problem of classical physics” and Heisenberg saying that “when I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first”. But is it possible that the undoubted genius and troubled painter that was Van Gogh perceived something more about turbulence in nature and is this most clearly represented in his most famous masterpiece – the evocative painting known as Starry Night? Watch the video to find out.

That scary time of the year is once more upon us as All Hallows’ Eve has arrived. Undoubtedly, most of you will have your outrageous outfits ready for tonight. But just in case you are looking for some last-minute ideas, especially those with a distinctly physics-y feel to them, then this article on the Symmetry Magazine website may just give you the inspiration you need. In “Costumes to make zombie Einstein proud” author Lauren Biron has put together an extensive list of physics-themed Haloween outfits that are sure to have your toes curling and your friends shrieking… or at least scratching their heads as they try crack your creepy code. From the “Bad neutrino” to the “Sparticle” (yes, a gladiator outfit indeed!), you can terrify and educate your friends. My favourite was cosmic inflation, but do let us know what funky physics outfits you went with in the comments below.

Elsewhere on the web, take a look at the Large Hadron Collider through your augmented-reality Oculus Rift headset and chuckle at the hilariously geeky physics-themed postcards created by the folk over at Physics Reimagined – the Bose Einstein party is our favourite. And lastly, in keeping with the Halloween theme, we were thrilled to come across this arXiv paper from physicist Benjamin Tippett on the physics of the Cthulhu mythos from renowned horror writer H P Lovecraft. In his paper, Tippett suggests that the Corpse-City of R’lyeh exists in a curved space–time bubble, explaining many of the seemingly bizzare sights and sounds described therein. So go ahead and dig deeper into the old god Cthulhu’s world, if you dare…