Ignorance, bliss, and why we stare at the tray table when landing

One of the fantastic things about field biology is the opportunity to travel. All the same, I think there’s a reason we don’t get a “pilot-cam” showing, second, by second, the process of taking a 20 ton winged aluminum tube from a state of high to low kinetic energy.

Visualizing Pi

Simple, concise, elegant.

An animated image showing the definition of pi. A number line is marked off by a circle of unit diameter. Starting from zero, the circle “unrolls” its circumference. At one full turn, the unrolled circumference has extended to the point we call π. This number is real but irrational, transcendental, and cannot be constructed with compass and straightedge.