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For the ABC Science series Phenomena, the Australian artist and filmmaker Josef Gatti collaborated with the Australian composer Kim Moyes for an amalgamation of art and science exploring ‘naturally occurring patterns, and the fundamental forces of nature that create them’. This episode explores natural surfaces at a range of scales – from the microscopic to the cosmic. Using electron microscopes, Gatti magnifies objects including pollen and tree bark beyond 10,000 times to render the small-scale patterns within them visible. He then contrasts these images with those of landscapes and cloud patterns as viewed from high above. Via Gatti’s breathtaking imagery and Moyes’s pulsating score, the duo invite us to appreciate the fascinating and sometimes strikingly similar patterns nature creates.
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Chemistry
Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?
12 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
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Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
11 minutes
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Music
The peculiar beauty of a song caught between composition and improvisation
3 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
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Astronomy
The history of astronomy is a history of conjuring intelligent life where it isn’t
34 minutes
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Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
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Metaphysics
Simple entities in universal harmony – Leibniz’s evocative perspective on reality
4 minutes
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes