We all know what a spiral looks like. Or do we? Ask your friends to describe one and they will probably trace out the form of a spiral staircase. But that is actually a helix; a curve in ...

The optical rotatum's logarithmic spiral follows a pattern found often in nature, including nautilus shells. Credit: Capasso Lab / Harvard SEAS The optical rotatum's logarithmic spiral follows a ...

A logarithmic spiral with a diameter of 500 μm, approximately half the diameter of a sewing needle. Curiosity about a mistake that left tiny dots on a germanium wafer with evaporated metal films led ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This is Norman Albree's pilot model ...

Beams of light polarized into spirals have been used by scientists in the UK to create intricate patterns on the surface of metals. This is the first time that these “logarithmic spirals” have been ...

Gael Mariani and Martin Scott perpetuate a series of myths in their letter about Fibonacci numbers in nature (3 September, p 19). It is true that the Fibonacci numbers are associated with a particular ...

Discoveries of new overarching rules or “laws” in nature are very rare. Surprisingly, my colleagues and I have found a new rule of biological growth that explains unexpected similarities in sharp ...