[HN Gopher] We Are All Scutoids: A Brand-New Shape, Explained (2...
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       We Are All Scutoids: A Brand-New Shape, Explained (2018)
        
       Author : Tomte
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2021-09-12 12:37 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.newyorker.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.newyorker.com)
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | I immediately sought a paper model of a scutoid on the internet
       | so I could build one (or two) ... Vi Hart did not disappoint:
       | 
       | http://vihart.com/scutoids/
        
         | toss1 wrote:
         | Wow, that explanation and paper model cutout is _SUCH_ a better
         | explanation of the concept - got it in seconds, vs that long
         | article.
         | 
         | Congrats to Vi Hart and thx for the link!
        
       | CRConrad wrote:
       | Archived version without paywall: https://archive.is/pNXnw
       | 
       | Matt Parker on YouTube:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_NZ1ql8B8Y
       | 
       | Nature article they're both based on:
       | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05376-1
        
       | exo-pla-net wrote:
       | It's a prism with one of its vertices sliced off.
       | 
       | I guess it's kind of nifty that a computational model predicted
       | it.
       | 
       | But treating the shape as being so mysterious / difficult to
       | describe is silly.
        
         | SkeuomorphicBee wrote:
         | It is not that simple, some of the faces are curved, so it is
         | not just a prism with a slice, it is not even a polyhedra.
         | 
         | It is difficult to describe because the curved faces are
         | difficult to describe, and mysterious because it was a mystery
         | untill very recently.
        
           | marcosdumay wrote:
           | Oh, not really a mystery. It just lacked a name is has
           | properties that are had to calculate.
           | 
           | What is enough to publish several scientific papers and maybe
           | enable very useful discoveries, but the shape is out there on
           | plenty of things for people to see.
        
         | civilized wrote:
         | Agreed. I don't envy mass media writers, what with the constant
         | pressure to make their subject matter somehow entertaining.
        
           | ithkuil wrote:
           | Entertaining means different things to different people.
           | 
           | There are ways of making this entertaining without telling
           | bullshit: https://youtu.be/2_NZ1ql8B8Y but I guess you need
           | some minimal level of education and interest in mathematics
           | to find any of that interesting in the first place.
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | Vertices sliced off and, to one degree or another, some of the
         | remaining vertices slid around to more _regularize_ the new
         | polygon you created.
        
       | 0des wrote:
       | Would fat cells be a scutoid, in this case? The way they are
       | packed together is what comes to mind when reading the
       | description of scutoids: multiple polygon faces with some rounded
       | edges.
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-12 23:01 UTC)