Pruned has collected some lovely petri dish scenes full of fractal patterns.

Billions and billions of bacterial landscape architects pruning — no less in environments poisoned with antibiotics — other bacterial landscape architects, dead or alive, to form dazzling arabesque parterres. The self-organizing embroidery of organisms in constant Darwinian mode.

More here. See also ferrofluid.

• art
• bacteria
• biology
• fractals
• patterns
• science

An investigation into the properties of number spirals (and prime numbers).

• mathematics
• patterns
• primenumbers

I think I have a new favorite liquid: ferrofluid. Apply a magnetic field to it and you get some pretty and pretty weird patterns. Watch the videos...the formation of a rotating "H" mongram in the first linked movie is mesmerizing (almost literally). (thx, alex)

• ferrofluids
• mesmerizing
• patterns
• science
• video

How Einstein & Darwin wrote letters, people write email, and birds forage for food may reveal general patterns in how animals decide among competing tasks.

• Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
• Albert Einstein
• biology
• Charles Darwin
• patterns
• science