Remember the graph paper you used at school, the kind that’s covered with tiny squares? It’s the perfect illustration of what mathematicians call a “periodic tiling of space”, with shapes covering an ...

Simple patterns can be found almost everywhere in the environment, from drain covers to leaves and road markings, say Julie Mountain and Felicity Robinson Patterns are essential to building ...

All complex correlated systems, from Arctic melt ponds to the Internet, appear to be governed by the same math as a random matrix. In 1999, while sitting at a bus stop in Cuernavaca, Mexico, a Czech ...

Corina Tarnita deciphers bizarre patterns in the soil created by competing life-forms. She’s found that they can reveal whether an ecosystem is thriving or on the verge of collapse. When Corina ...

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more. A few minutes into a 2018 talk at the University of Michigan, Ian Tobasco picked up a large piece of paper and ...

Frank A. Farris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

"I was a landscape architect who turned to a life of crime," jokes Robert Cheetham, founder of Azavea, a software development and research firm based in Philadelphia. Fourteen years ago, he was one of ...

Skin color patterns in animals arise from microscopic interactions among colored cells that obey equations, say investigators. Researchers report that a lizard acquires its adult skin color by ...

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. A few minutes into ...