OK, this is cool. It’s a new way to experience what’s new and hot and interesting online on a daily basis (which is one of the things I visit delicious for).
What is it?
“Phylotaxis”, created for Seed by artist Jonathan Harris, illustrates the delicate balance between science and culture in our world.
Without the randomness of culture, science becomes dry and predictable, imprisoned in a strict square grid. Without the rational thinking of science, culture quickly teeters towards chaos. Only when science and culture act as peers can harmony be achieved, expressed through the astonishing Phylotaxis shape.
The individual beads of the Phylotaxis represent an ever-changing zeitgeist of science news in our world, populated automatically every few hours by a computer program that scours a slew of online news sources and blogs that focus on science. The Phylotaxis is therefore beyond human control, autonomously composing its own new identity, based on what’s happening in the world of science.
The miniature Phylotaxis atop this page is the Seed insignia, quivering slightly with Brownian motion, its color composition changing every few hours, each dot taking on the average color of its corresponding Phylotaxis photograph. In this way, the identity of Seed constantly reflects the identity of science.