Sparks and Seeds for Learning

Pick a number...

Pick a number between 1 and 99, write it as a word, then count the letters to get a new number. Write the new number as a word, and count its letters- repeat. This curiosity was tweeted by@IanMathmogician, and if you try it you’ll find you get stuck at the number 4- the only number equal to its letter-count. This image shows the network of what your possible routes to 4 could be. It shows you’ll always get there after 5 steps.

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Mathematical Pasta

Created by a team of designers, ‘Pasta by Design’ book reveals the hidden mathematical beauty of pasta: its geometrical shapes and surfaces are explained by mathematical formulae, drawings and illustrations - source

Angles, angles, everywhere

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Making Wearables from E-Waste

Cyrus Kabiru is an artist from Nairobi, Kenya who is turning e-waste into wearables and art.

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Here is a short video interview with Cyrus:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

From ultrafacts.tumblr.com:

William had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village. And he was not prepared to wait for politicians or aid groups to do it for him. The need for action was even greater in 2002 following one of Malawi’s worst droughts, which killed thousands of people and left his family on the brink of starvation.

Unable to attend school, he kept up his education by using a local library. Fascinated by science, his life changed one day when he picked up a tattered textbook and saw a picture of a windmill. Mr Kamkwamba told the BBC News website: “I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water.

“I thought: ‘That could be a defense against hunger. Maybe I should build one for myself’.” When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings. But his ingenious project met blank looks in his community of about 200 people.

“Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy,” he recalls. “They had never seen a windmill before.” [x]

In 2014, William Kamkwamba received his 4 year degree at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he was a student.

Transluscent Succulent Haworthia cooperi ‘Dodson’

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Positivity through Minimalism

"Photographer Peechaya Burroughs' playfully minimalistic shots contain a contagious amount of positivity. Through Burroughs' unique lens, a yellow/orange balloon becomes a perfect egg yolk, food is transformed into artistic material, and origami is magically brought to life. No matter what the concept, each image showcases the artist's imaginative ability to see the extraordinary in everyday items.

"My photographs mainly consist of things that I create or manipulate by hand," Burroughs explains on her website. "Occasionally I use Photoshop when enhancing the idea. Driven by childhood memories and very much fascinated by children’s imagination and their quirkiness, the direction of my photography is light, easy to approach with a little touch of everyday optimism."

On the surface, her portfolio may appear modest and quite simple, but its whimsical nature is what sets it apart. Since optimism is a key component, it's no wonder that the photographer has been able to prove that ordinary objects have the potential to become brilliant works of art." mymodernmet