From Microscope to Kaleidoscope: Merging Fields of Vision

Science and engineering are on threshold of a new connective power. Invoking the metaphor of a kaleidoscope, new vistas are being revealed by information technologies and the science of complexity. Evidence appears at all scales in visualizations of a spiral, from a hurricane to gravitational waves. Fractal branching is evident in a river network, the veins of a leaf, and the propagation of cracks in fatigued materials. From the micro-level of an atom to the distant scale of astronomy, we are understanding the universe in new ways.