Consilience & World Ants

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

Two days ago I reviewed a wonderful documentary about origami I saw on Sunday.  One of the premises of this documentary reminded me of a wonderful book I read, which was published in 1998, "Consilience" by Edward O. Wilson.  In the documentary the relationship of origami to other fields of study was explored; in Wilson's book consilience is the unity of all knowledge bases from science to the humanities.

Dr. Wilson is from Alabama (as am I) and grew up near Washington, D.C. (I did not, although I visited several times in my youth) and near Mobile, Alabama (as did I).  As a young man he was very interested in natural history and entomology.  He has won several awards for his research and writings primarily in science. 

What I didn't know is that as a young man he attempted to survey all the ants of Alabama.  For a website that will give you information about ants in any region of the world click here. 

What did you learn today?

The Music of Origami

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

I have just seen the best documentary I've ever seen, "Between the Folds:  Exploring Origami."  One of the most interesting parts of this documentary is how the evolution of Western Art Music is compared to the evolution of origami.  Some of the most breathtaking origami I have ever seen is presented.  There are different genres of origami--very much like music--and some even moves!  Another very interesting part of the film is the scientists who do and study origami for practical application in medicine and other fields.  It is a riveting 56 minutes.  On top of all that, I thought the score was genius in that it sounded like what origami looks like!  I hope you will see this documentary, then leave a comment here on this blog. 

For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?