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SIX CORNERED SNOWFLAKE. "In naming his essay, Kepler consciously played with words and made a pun with the word nix: In Latin, the language in which he composed the essay, the word means "snowflake," but in Low German, Kepler's native tongue, it means "nothing." At its core, the essay functions as a meditation on the nature of substance: if a snowflake, crafted of water vapor, melts momentarily, is it anything at all?" http://www.keplersdiscovery.com/SixCornered.html View in LinkedIn

KEPLER'S BRIDGE MOMENT. "When a snowflake alighted on Kepler’s coat as he crossed the Charles Bridge in Prague, he marveled at its perfect six-cornered symmetry." This led him to search nature for analogous structures. Read this lovely thought journey. http://www.keplersdiscovery.com/SixCornered.html View in LinkedIn

SONG OF DARWIN. "The more I study nature, the more I become impressed […] that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations [acquired through natural selection] transcend in an incomparable degree [those] which the most fertile imagination of the most imaginative man could suggest with unlimited time at his disposal." https://lnkd.in/eykUy37 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE deals with snowflakes. A snowflake is not a glacier, but both are made of ice. Yesterday evening I stood on the magnificent Charles Bridge in Prague, where Kepler in 1610 (a mere 406 years ago) on this very bridge had a snowflake alight on his coat and launched him into a treatise on the six-fold symmetry of snowflakes published a year later. A salute across time to this magnificent thinker. https://lnkd.in/dGtMwAp View in LinkedIn

MULTICELLULARITY. "Multicellularity has evolved independently at least 46 times, including in some prokaryotes, like cyanobacteria, myxobacteria, actinomycetes, Magnetoglobus multicellularis or Methanosarcina. However, complex multicellular organisms evolved only in six eukaryotic groups: animals, fungi, brown algae, red algae, green algae, and land plants." https://lnkd.in/dCyD_7R View in LinkedIn

SECOND BOTHERSOME ISSUE. "Yet, eukaryotes evolved only once in the history of life, whereas multicellular eukaryotes have evolved many times." https://lnkd.in/dNEtvR8 View in LinkedIn

EUKARYOTE AND MULTICELLULAR EQUIVALENCY. "According to multi-level theory, evolutionary transitions require mediating conflicts between lower-level units in favour of the higher-level unit. By this view, the origin of eukaryotes and the origin of multicellularity would seem largely equivalent." https://lnkd.in/dNEtvR8 View in LinkedIn

DEATH OF A SNOWFLAKE. "Shortly after snow precipitation, every single snowflake experiences unique structural changes determined by its specific geometry, dimensions, orientation, and local environment. Accompanied by the physical rearrangement of snowflakes, these changes result in the structural evolution of the snowpack over time. The process is known as snow metamorphism." Lovely article. https://lnkd.in/dU4PZ_d View in LinkedIn

STUCK OR BETTER OFF? "Why have not prokaryotes evolved complex multicellularity?" https://lnkd.in/dNEtvR8 View in LinkedIn

TIME LAPSES of a growing snowflakes. "These are not computer simulations, but are real slivers of ice grown in the laboratory. I photograph the crystals as they grow, controlling their shapes by changing the temperature and humidity as they form. The final shape depends on the entire growth history." http://www.snowcrystals.com/videos/videos.html View in LinkedIn