Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Nautilus

    The Most Symmetrical Objects in the World

    by Rose Eveleth Mar 07, 2017 4 minutes

    If you’ve ever tried to give yourself a haircut, you know just how hard it is to make something precisely symmetrical. We value symmetry so highly in part because it’s really hard to achieve. 

    Here are five of the most symmetrical objects humans have ever crafted, and why they were so hard to make.

    Strikingly symmetrical pieces of ear jewelry, alleged to be centuries old, have been seized on by conspiracy theorists.

    Gravity Probe B quartz gyroscope rotors

    In 2004, Gravity Probe B (GP-B) was launched into space on a Delta II rocket with the mission of testing the theory of general relativity. The Earth-orbiting satellite included a set of gyroscopes that could two of the phenomena predicted by general relativity:

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Nautilus

    Nautilus3 min read
    Sardines Are Feeling the Squeeze
    Sardines are never solitary. Even in death they are squeezed into a can, three or five to a tin, their flattened forms perfectly parallel. This slick congruity makes sense. In life, sardines are evolved for synchronicity: To avoid and confuse predato
    Nautilus9 min read
    The Marine Biologist Who Dove Right In
    It’s 1969, in the middle of the Gulf of California. Above is a blazing hot sky; below, the blue sea stretches for miles in all directions, interrupted only by the presence of an oceanographic research ship. Aboard it a man walks to the railing, studi
    Nautilus8 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
    Consciousness, Creativity, and Godlike AI
    These days, we’re inundated with speculation about the future of artificial intelligence—and specifically how AI might take away our jobs, or steal the creative work of writers and artists, or even destroy the human species. The American writer Megha

    Related Books & Audiobooks