Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
The San Antonio Botanical Garden is one of six Gardens participating in "Infinite Sums," an innovative, national project which could change how many of us view nature.
Maybe you’ve noticed how the growth habits of some plants have recurring mathematical shapes. The Botanical Garden’s Katie Erickson says they’re everywhere, and a Saturday event they refer to as "Infinity Day" shows those who come to that event where those mathematical shapes are.
“What we're doing is we're looking at plants and nature through a lens of math. Our next celebration is all about infinity, and it happens on August 8,” Erickson noted.
There are thousands of examples in nature. A green cauliflower called Romanesco Cauliflower is one which repeats an incredibly intricate design throughout the plan.
“Yes, exactly, and in that cauliflower that you're talking about, you can see kind of a fractal pattern and never ending, or what could be a never ending or an infinite pattern.”
The event starts at 9 a.m. and goes to 1p.m., allowing attendees to avoid being outside during the hottest part of the day.
“People will get to learn about ancient cycads and ferns and plant propagation, even build little, tiny terrariums that kind of hold an infinite cycle of an ecosystem inside itself,” she said.
While this focus on math in a Botanical Garden might seem a little odd, Erickson says there’s one activity which she enjoys perhaps the most.
“One of my favorite activities that I'm looking forward to hosting on August 8 is Eric Addis,” she said. “He is a sound artist, and he is producing a piece called 'The Garden of Infinite Music.'”
It’s not just the sounds he finds, but the plants that are the sound’s origin.
“He'll be using electronic sensor pads attached to living plants and translating the bioelectrical signatures into a live musical experience,” Erickson said.
Saturday’s event isn’t a stand-alone one. It’s one event in a series called "Math in Bloom."
“Our first celebration in this series was Pi Day back in March, and our last one will be Fibonacci Day in November,” she said. “And at our first celebration, we had a lot of people out with Pi Day shirts or Pi shirts and math shirts, and just really excited to know that we were exploring math through nature.
