This 'scutoid' thing is such a lovely illustration of the mathematical incompetence and tastelessness of most science journalists, swarming around press releases like flies around dumpsters.
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No there there. You classified a common defect in a class of space packings. Wow. Yay. This doesn't lead anywhere. Why is this a story? Because it's got a new word in it, and only words are real.
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Replying to @St_Rev
Sadly, while most of us get numbers and grade-school math, and even most journalists understand basic formulas, beyond that most fall back on - words
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Replying to @TheClarksTale
This thing is just so *boring*. At least fractals and aperiodic tilings are cool looking.
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Replying to @St_Rev
It's mostly not even the fault of math/science journalists I think (except at a couple of removes) - it's that most write for publications that, often correctly, think they need to reduce things to a very low common denominator - or lose readers.
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Replying to @TheClarksTale @St_Rev
AKA "why read anything but specialist publications, everything else is dumbed down to the point of being wrong/deceptive"
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Replying to @TheClarksTale
Man, just websearch 'scutoid' and look at all the shit outlets turning out carbon copies of the same article.
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Replying to @St_Rev
I can't access the New Scientist article without paying, but "scutoid" reads to me as "shield-shaped", which isn't what I'd use to describe that shape (and I have mucked around a lot with shields).
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I figured that it referred to interlocking shapes resembling a Roman shield wall -- but it doesn't!
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. Banned in Sweden. SubGenius, Zhuangist, white-hat troll. Defrocked mathematician. Brain problems.