Ron Eglash: The Fractals at the Heart of African Designs

You’ve probably heard of fractals, the fascinating repeating mathematical pattern of shape and form that creates beautiful designs which theoretically continue in scale to infinity. The natural world is not the only place where we have discovered fractals, but there are villages in Africa that are laid out in fractal patterns.

"I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof." That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he’d noticed in villages across the continent.

Martin Luther King’s Final Speech: 'I've Been to the Mountaintop'

The last speech by Martin Luther King Jr., given the day before he was assassinated, is prophetic. It seems to foreshadow his own death. Also, his power and passion are a thing to behold, especially in these final moments of his life.

Jacob Collier's #IHarmU

The young British, Grammy-Award winning musical phenom, Jacob Collier has a series of videos in which he provides multi-layered vocal harmony and beat-box rhythms over short musical submissions sent to him by strangers when he was 22 years old. This multi-instrumentalist virtuoso has a tremendous talent for vocal music and complex harmonic composition. Enjoy!

What is Flow Theory?

If we want students to be fully empowered to own the creative process, we need to understand what it means for students to reach a state of creative flow. The History of the Theory Although the idea of Flow has existed for thousands of years, Flow Theory began in the 1970’s and 80’s when Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi became fascinated by artists who were so lost in their creative work that they would lose track of time and even ignore food, water, and sleep. Through his research, he noticed a similar experience with scientists, athletes, and authors. It was a state of hyper-focus and complete engagement that he described as “optimal experience.”

Much has been written about “flow theory.” As Dr. Paul, Mr. Sands, and the high schoolers delve into questions of Quantum Biology and quantum coherence, new perspectives within the sciences might explain states of flow as relating to states of quantum coherence with the organism. Enjoy this short overview of ‘flow’ as it relates to student learning. 

Turning Salty Sea-Water Into Fresh Water

Many of us who are students of ancestral skills and technologies marvel at the ingenuity of nature-based peoples. The inventiveness of humans is remarkable. Turning salty sea-water into fresh water might seem out of the realm of possibility for someone using only local materials from nature, but not for this man. Enjoy!

The DNA Journey

Enjoy this interesting and provocative ‘reveal’ about DNA testing with a group of participants in a project run by the Danish company Momondo.

We asked 67 people from all over the world to take a DNA test. It turns out they have much more in common with other nationalities than they thought ...

It’s easy to think there are more things dividing us than uniting us. But we actually have much more in common with other nationalities than you’d think.

At momondo we believe that everybody should be able to travel the world, to meet other people, and experience other cultures and religions. Travel opens our minds: when we experience something different, we begin to see things differently. Share this video, and help us spread the word – and open our world.

Excerpt from Documentary “Mother Nature’s Child”

A small group of high school students explore the wilderness of the eastern United States during a 6-month semester at Kroka Expeditions. Led by Kroka founder Misha Goldman, they discover peer connection, self-sufficiency, and themselves.

We have posted this video before. It is an excerpt from the remarkable documentary called “Mother Nature’s Child,” and this clip profiles a small expeditionary school in New Hampshire called Kroka Expeditions. The connections between and among this small community of adolescents is visceral and inspiring. Manzanita has two alumni from Kroka, and a third student is currently there. 

Beyond the Anthropo-Scene

The renowned “anthropologist under Amazonian influence” and indigenous rights activist Jeremy Narby, author of such classics as The Cosmic Serpent and Intelligence in Nature, considers the intelligence of living beings and wrestles with his own culture’s anthropocentric concepts. In his view, constantly affirming the centrality of humans gets in the way of respectful living in the biosphere. Rethinking human-centered concepts such as “nature” and “anthropocene” can cast light on our relationship with the living world. Because the words we use influence how we think, we gain from examining them with care.

Please enjoy this talk by the brilliant Canadian anthropologist, Jeremy Narby. In his 20-minute presentation, from the 2017 Bioneers Conference, Dr. Narby discusses the ways in which indigenous peoples in the Amazon experience the intelligence of the more-than-human world.

How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other in the Forest

What do trees talk about? In the Douglas fir forests of Canada, see how trees “talk” to each other by forming underground symbiotic relationships—called mycorrhizae—with fungi to relay stress signals and share resources with one another.

What do trees discuss? In the Douglas fir forests of Canada, trees talk to each through underground symbiotic relationships called mycorrhizae, where fungi relay stress signals and share resources with one another. The new discovery of these communication networks is teaching us more and more about the intelligence of the more-than-human world. Enjoy this video, and may it inspire our growing biocentric (versus ‘anthropocentric’) worldview.

BBC Earth's Life Story, Courtship, Pufferfish

The most extraordinary display of all is created by a tiny, drab male pufferfish. He builds a spectacular submarine 'crop circle' in the sand. It's the most perfect and complex structure created by any animal. The crop circles were only discovered in southern Japan in 1995 and the fish architect was only identified in 2011.

The Pufferfish (order of Tetraodontiformes) has a truly majestic kind of courtship, creating a massive ‘mandala’ on the sea floor with its fins. This project takes nearly a week of non-stop effort in which it works day and night. The result is evocative. Please enjoy this short video on an incredibly artistic fish.

How Quantum Biology Might Explain Life’s Biggest Questions

How does a robin know to fly south? The answer might be weirder than you think: Quantum physics may be involved. Jim Al-Khalili rounds up the extremely new, extremely strange world of quantum biology, where something Einstein once called “spooky action at a distance” helps birds navigate, and quantum effects might explain the origin of life itself.

This is very much worth watching! Dr. Jim Al-Khalili is a noted quantum physicist, and has been recipient of several prestigious science awards. He is an important contributor to public discourse within the emerging scientific field of “quantum biology.” His work is helping to open new frontiers around the role of quantum phenomena in our understanding of the question “What is life?” This 16-minute TED talk is beautiful and profound. 

Excerpt from Documentary “Mother Nature’s Child”

A small group of high school students explore the wilderness of the eastern United States during a 6-month semester at Kroka Expeditions. Led by Kroka founder Misha Goldman, they discover peer connection, self-sufficiency, and themselves.

As noted above, one of our beloved high school juniors, Rubey-Grace Carey (who also happens to be Ms. Jennifer’s daughter), is traveling to Ecuador as part of Kroka Expeditions, based out of New Hampshire. Watch this excerpt from the documentary “Mother Nature’s Child,” which featured this segment about Kroka’s Vermont Semester. You will get a strong sense of the deep community this program generates for participating youth. Enjoy!