> even though evolution is contingent at a local level (such as a specific protein sequence or the shape of a flower), it is remarkably predictable at a global level (such as the very existence of proteins and flowers across many species)
to be fair... flowers are a very recent invention that appeared only after the dinosaurs got wiped out and clean slate allowed co-evolution of flowers and pollinators to occur
Flowering plants (angiosperms) appeared during the Cretaceous before dinosaurs got wiped out, and there is fossil evidence of insects pollinating non-flowering plants (gymnosperms) like ferns and confers even earlier than that: https://repository.si.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/152b12d...
There are a few pictures of truncated icosahedra in the article, alongside several other shapes that are not icosahedra. The point is that they have icosahedral symmetry. The L is important.
I was going to comment pedantically that soccer balls were dodecahedrons not icosahedrons, but in reading the article, I came to realize that truncated icosahedrons are the same as truncated dodecahedrons.
This was such a delightful realization I felt the need to comment anyway.
And that archetypal soccer ball design is called the Telstar and named for a communications satellite, fun fact. I think before 1968 the volleyball shape was more popular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Telstar
> even though evolution is contingent at a local level (such as a specific protein sequence or the shape of a flower), it is remarkably predictable at a global level (such as the very existence of proteins and flowers across many species)
to be fair... flowers are a very recent invention that appeared only after the dinosaurs got wiped out and clean slate allowed co-evolution of flowers and pollinators to occur
Flowering plants (angiosperms) appeared during the Cretaceous before dinosaurs got wiped out, and there is fossil evidence of insects pollinating non-flowering plants (gymnosperms) like ferns and confers even earlier than that: https://repository.si.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/152b12d...
We used to joke in my biophysics grad program that basically everything was determined by its surface area to volume ratio.
>an estimated 70 percent of viral capsids known to date are icosahedral, shaped like tiny soccer balls.
Soccer balls are not icosahedra. The archetypal soccer ball is a truncated icosahedron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_icosahedron
There are a few pictures of truncated icosahedra in the article, alongside several other shapes that are not icosahedra. The point is that they have icosahedral symmetry. The L is important.
I was going to comment pedantically that soccer balls were dodecahedrons not icosahedrons, but in reading the article, I came to realize that truncated icosahedrons are the same as truncated dodecahedrons.
This was such a delightful realization I felt the need to comment anyway.
And that archetypal soccer ball design is called the Telstar and named for a communications satellite, fun fact. I think before 1968 the volleyball shape was more popular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Telstar
do you know what the modifier "like" means in the sentence you quoted, or are you just being annoyingly pedantic
eh but also organic chemistry only does well 30 and 60 degrees
See buckyballs as a trivial refutation of your point.
The universe seems perfectly happy to have, for example, 5-member rings tho.