What do the trees know.sway, sway, swaymore quotes

# pi: fun

The Outbreak Poems — artistic emissions in a pandemic

# visualization + design

A $\pi$ day music video!: Transcendental Tree Map premieres on 2020 Pi Day from Max Cooper's Yearning for the Infinite. Animation by Nick Cobby and myself. Watch live from Barbican Centre.
Music video of the “Transcendental Tree Map” Max Cooper's Yearning for the Infinite album. This video premiered on 2020 Pi Day. Music by Max Cooper. Animation by Nick Cobby and myself.
The 2020 Pi Day art celebrates digits of $\pi$ with piku (パイク) —poetry inspired by haiku.
They serve as the form for The Outbreak Poems.
Tau Day tree map animation of 8,909 digits of $\tau = 2 \pi$ created with 40,015 lines. The video is 6:28 minutes long.

# $\pi$ Day 2017 Art Posters - Star charts and extinct animals and plants

2019 $\pi$ has hundreds of digits, hundreds of languages and a special kids' edition.
2018 $\pi$ day
2017 $\pi$ day
2016 $\pi$ approximation day
2016 $\pi$ day
2015 $\pi$ day
2014 $\pi$ approx day
2014 $\pi$ day
2013 $\pi$ day
Circular $\pi$ art

On March 14th celebrate $\pi$ Day. Hug $\pi$—find a way to do it.

For those who favour $\tau=2\pi$ will have to postpone celebrations until July 26th. That's what you get for thinking that $\pi$ is wrong. I sympathize with this position and have $\tau$ day art too!

If you're not into details, you may opt to party on July 22nd, which is $\pi$ approximation day ($\pi$ ≈ 22/7). It's 20% more accurate that the official $\pi$ day!

Finally, if you believe that $\pi = 3$, you should read why $\pi$ is not equal to 3.

All art posters are available for purchase.
I take custom requests.

Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.
—Horace

This year: creatures that don't exist, but once did, in the skies.

This year's $\pi$ day song is Exploration by Karminsky Experience Inc. Why? Because "you never know what you'll find on an exploration".

If you like space, you'll love my the 12,000 billion light-year map of clusters, superclusters and voids. Find the biggest nothings in Boötes and Eridanus.

## create myths and contribute!

Want to contribute to the mythology behind the constellations in the $\pi$ in the sky? Many already have a story, but others still need one. Please submit your stories!

Here I make available all the files you need to reconstruct the chart. All files are plain text and designed to be easily parsable.

Star chart of the first 12,000,000 digits of $\pi$. The 80 constellations honor extinct animals and plants. Azimuthal equidistant projection. (BUY ARTWORK)

For the simplest chart, you'll need the star catalogue which already provides the longitude and latitude coordinates for each star. It'll be up to you to choose and calculate a projection.

You can then layer constellations, which are defined by a list of edges. If you like, you can draw boundaries around each constellation, which are also provided.

Star-to-constellation mapping is also given, which allows you to create labels for the stars within each constellation based on relative brightness.

Finally, you can get the species details for each constellation, including the Latin name of the species, Wikipedia URL and (for many) the mythology of the constellation.

## star catalogue

The star catalog generated from the first 12 million digits of $\pi$.

$DOWNLOAD # idx digits name x y z long lat dist mabs mapp 0 314159265358 a -1859 926 35 145.339 38.384 2077.157 3.00 14.59 1 979323846264 b 4793 -2616 126 -38.404 -39.555 5461.884 -1.00 12.69 2 338327950288 c -1617 -2205 -472 -110.162 32.164 2774.797 3.00 15.22 3 419716939937 d -803 -3307 493 -105.489 3.655 3438.620 2.00 14.68 ... 999996 601538500580 cexhk 1015 -1150 -442 -48.144 -14.704 1596.273 -5.00 6.02 999997 420478142596 cexhl -796 2814 -241 97.939 14.471 2934.330 1.00 13.34 999998 278256213419 cexhm -2218 621 -159 156.900 46.719 2308.776 4.00 15.82 999999 453839371943 cexhn -462 -1063 -306 -95.924 26.937 1198.770 -2.00 8.39$

## constellation definitions

Constellations were manually defined. Each constellation has a name and abbreviation (first 3 characters unless longer is required to uniquely specify it). Shown next is the number of stars used to define the constellation and their names, as appear in the star catalogue file above. Next is the number of edges and the star pairs that define the edges of the constellation. The edges are not in any particular order and have no direction. Any spaces in names are encoded with _.

$DOWNLOAD # idx n_stars n_edges name abbrev stars edges ... 2 3 3 alaotra ala blts,btosf,cbkbw btosf-cbkbw,blts-btosf,blts-cbkbw 3 4 4 alloperla all ghyr,pwkn,ssrx,ugwt pwkn-ssrx,pwkn-ghyr,ugwt-pwkn,ssrx-ghyr 4 2 1 aplonis apl cbocd,rllm rllm-cbocd ...$

You can use this file to quickly search for certain shapes. For example, triangular constellations are those that have 3 stars and 3 edges.

$> grep " 3 3" constellations.def.txt 2 3 3 alaotra ala blts,btosf,cbkbw btosf-cbkbw,blts-btosf,blts-cbkbw 16 3 3 camptor camp benxf,bqvh,bwqed bqvh-benxf,bwqed-bqvh,bwqed-benxf 26 3 3 desmodus des bfnqu,mork,zwzy bfnqu-mork,zwzy-bfnqu,zwzy-mork 27 3 3 ectopistes ect bopmt,cbquf,wmnw cbquf-bopmt,wmnw-cbquf,wmnw-bopmt 30 3 3 hoopoe hoo bpsop,bvmjh,tryh tryh-bvmjh,bpsop-tryh,bpsop-bvmjh 31 3 3 huia hui ccteo,xbvq,yqet xbvq-yqet,ccteo-xbvq,ccteo-yqet 39 3 3 malpaisomys mal bucqd,likq,nqn nqn-bucqd,likq-nqn,likq-bucqd 41 3 3 mariana mar gmps,jydb,pcjx pcjx-gmps,jydb-pcjx,jydb-gmps 49 3 3 palaeoaldrovanda pal bedae,oife,saz bedae-saz,oife-bedae,oife-saz 63 3 3 rhynia rhy bpviv,cenuk,hivz bpviv-hivz,cenuk-bpviv,cenuk-hivz 65 3 3 silphium sil bjesg,bmquw,bpxia bmquw-bpxia,bjesg-bmquw,bjesg-bpxia 69 3 3 tadorna tad bukqe,cbtrx,epdx cbtrx-epdx,bukqe-cbtrx,bukqe-epdx 72 3 3 traversia tra fcnw,fywb,puib fywb-fcnw,puib-fywb,puib-fcnw 80 3 3 yersinia yer colq,ibls,zgvy ibls-zgvy,colq-ibls,colq-zgvy$

## constellation boundaries

The boundaries were manually defined. Shown here, for each constellation, is the constellation's area, perimeter center and boundary $(x,y)$ pairs, delimited by : and represent a closed polygon that encloses the constellation's stars.

All values are longitude and latitude. The three constellations listed below are ones with smallest area.

$DOWNLOAD # abbrev area perimeter centroid_xy boundary_xy_pairs ... com 74.83 34.96 -102.50,26.25 -100.00,30.00:-102.50,30.00:-105.00,30.00:-107.50,30.00:-107.50,27.50: -107.50,25.00:-107.50,22.51:-105.00,22.51:-102.50,22.51:-100.00,22.51: -97.51,22.51:-97.51,25.00:-97.51,27.50:-97.51,30.00:-100.00,30.00 pal 50.02 30.00 3.43,-40.93 5.00,-37.49:2.50,-37.49:0.00,-37.49:0.00,-40.00:0.00,-42.50:0.00,-45.00: 2.50,-45.00:5.00,-45.00:5.00,-42.50:7.49,-42.50:7.49,-40.00:7.49,-37.49:5.00,-37.49 sil 37.57 25.02 115.00,-51.25 115.00,-47.50:112.49,-47.50:112.49,-50.00:112.49,-52.49:112.49,-55.00: 115.00,-55.00:117.50,-55.00:117.50,-52.49:117.50,-50.00:117.50,-47.50:115.00,-47.50$

The boundary polygons abut but do not overlap and they cover the entire sky. There is one polygon per consetllation. The total area of all constellations is $360 × 180 = 36800$.

## constellation star membership

This is a list of all the stars on the chart and their constellation membership. A star is considered to be in a constellation if it falls within the constellation boundary.

The $i$ and $j$ indexes give the relative brightness of the star on the map and in the constellation, respectively. If a star is used to define the constellation edges it gets a + otherwise -.

$DOWNLOAD # abbreviation star i j mapp on_edge? aep bkawv 35 0 1.34 + aep gql 65 1 1.63 + aep cavix 72 2 1.71 + aep bqxvm 137 3 2.25 + aep tjow 158 4 2.31 + aep beelq 176 5 2.39 + ... yer jjlj 39365 412 7.24 - yer bgswm 39464 413 7.24 - yer ittu 39546 414 7.24 - yer wakp 39556 415 7.24 - yer bedks 39667 416 7.25 - yer gxzo 39817 417 7.25 -$

To lookup the 10 brightest stars, sort on the i index. Here we see that megal (Megalodon) has the brightest star in the sky, jkxo with apparent magnitude $-2.05$. The next two brighest stars are in mam (Mammuthus) and ara (Araucaria).

$> cat constellations.stars.txt | sort -n +2 -3 | head -10 megal jkxo 0 0 -2.05 + mam btsqy 1 0 -0.73 + ara ccijs 2 0 -0.38 + rap btaum 3 0 0.26 + urs bxlss 4 0 0.26 + tec bgrdk 5 0 0.43 + cop itwr 6 0 0.45 + ara mrvq 7 1 0.54 + phe loju 8 0 0.54 + mam bhlbw 9 1 0.55 +$

To get a list of the brightest star in each constellation, just search for " 0 ". Below I show this list sorted by brightness.

$> cat constellations.stars.txt | grep " 0 "| sort -n +4 -5 megal jkxo 0 0 -2.05 + mam btsqy 1 0 -0.73 + ara ccijs 2 0 -0.38 + rap btaum 3 0 0.26 + urs bxlss 4 0 0.26 + tec bgrdk 5 0 0.43 + cop itwr 6 0 0.45 + phe loju 8 0 0.54 + kel bnhwx 11 0 0.59 + spe rtep 13 0 0.71 + ... nes vxou 299 0 2.80 - aur bmjvf 307 0 2.81 + tra puib 318 0 2.83 + pip cecq 358 0 2.91 + pal oife 389 0 2.97 + swa gvr 463 0 3.12 + hui ccteo 485 0 3.17 + ple bzqur 506 0 3.20 + com ygrn 875 0 3.64 + car yjkn 933 0 3.68 +$

For example, tec (Tecopa) has bgrdk as its brightest star, which is 6th brightest in the sky with an apparent magnitude of 0.43.

The constellation whose brightest star is dimmest of all first brightest stars is car (Caracara). Its brightest star is yjkn which is 934th brightest in the sky with an apparent magnitude of 3.68.

To get the number of stars in each constellation, just add the number of times the constellation abbreviation appears. Bron has the most stars of any constellation, more than twice as many as the next one, archaeo (Archaeopteryx). Both car (Caracara) and por (Porzana) have only 7 stars each, the fewest of all constellations.

$5230 bro 2287 archaeo 2205 thy 2155 kim 1838 archaea 1789 came 1768 ard ... 20 megal 19 swa 17 mar 12 rhy 8 sil 7 por 7 car$

## constellation names, stories and links

The constellations are in no particular order in this file.

$DOWNLOAD # constellation name # hemisphere (n north, s south, b both) # common name # Latin name # extinction date # URL # optional story aplonis n mysterious bird of Ulieta Aplonis ulietensis 1774-1850 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiatea_starling desmodus n Giant Vampire Bat Desmodus draculae Pleistocene or early Holocene https://www.thoughtco.com/recently-extinct-shrews-bats-and-rodents-1092147 It is thought that each night Desmodus flies up against the dome of the sky, looking for a way to escape. ...$

# The SEIRS model for infectious disease dynamics

Thu 18-06-2020

Realistic models of epidemics account for latency, loss of immunity, births and deaths.

We continue with our discussion about epidemic models and show how births, deaths and loss of immunity can create epidemic waves—a periodic fluctuation in the fraction of population that is infected.

Nature Methods Points of Significance column: The SEIRS model for infectious disease dynamics. (read)

This column has an interactive supplemental component (download code) that allows you to explore epidemic waves and introduces the idea of the phase plane, a compact way to understand the evolution of an epidemic over its entire course.

Nature Methods Points of Significance column: The SEIRS model for infectious disease dynamics. (Interactive supplemental materials)

Bjørnstad, O.N., Shea, K., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2020) Points of significance: The SEIRS model for infectious disease dynamics. Nature Methods 17:557–558.

Bjørnstad, O.N., Shea, K., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2020) Points of significance: Modeling infectious epidemics. Nature Methods 17:455–456.

# Gene Machines

Fri 05-06-2020

Shifting soundscapes, textures and rhythmic loops produced by laboratory machines.

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, Segue was commissioned to create an original composition based on audio recordings from the GSC's laboratory equipment, robots and computers—to make “music” from the noise they produce.

Gene Machines by Segue. Now available on vinyl.

# Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread

Mon 01-06-2020

Genetic sequences of the coronavirus tell story of when the virus arrived in each country and where it came from.

Our graphic in Scientific American's Graphic Science section in the June 2020 issue shows a phylogenetic tree based on a snapshot of the data model from Nextstrain as of 31 March 2020.

Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread. Text by Mark Fischetti (Senior Editor), art direction by Jen Christiansen (Senior Graphics Editor), source: Nextstrain (enabled by data from GISAID).

# Cover of Nature Cancer April 2020

Mon 27-04-2020

Our design on the cover of Nature Cancer's April 2020 issue shows mutation spectra of patients from the POG570 cohort of 570 individuals with advanced metastatic cancer.

Each ellipse system represents the mutation spectrum of an individual patient. Individual ellipses in the system correspond to the number of base changes in a given class and are layered by mutation count. Ellipse angle is controlled by the proportion of mutations in a class within the sample and its size is determined by a sigmoid mapping of mutation count scaled within the layer. The opacity of each system represents the duration since the diagnosis of advanced disease. (read more)

The cover design accompanies our report in the issue Pleasance, E., Titmuss, E., Williamson, L. et al. (2020) Pan-cancer analysis of advanced patient tumors reveals interactions between therapy and genomic landscapes. Nat Cancer 1:452–468.

# Modeling infectious epidemics

Tue 16-06-2020

Every day sadder and sadder news of its increase. In the City died this week 7496; and of them, 6102 of the plague. But it is feared that the true number of the dead this week is near 10,000 ....
—Samuel Pepys, 1665

This month, we begin a series of columns on epidemiological models. We start with the basic SIR model, which models the spread of an infection between three groups in a population: susceptible, infected and recovered.

Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Modeling infectious epidemics. (read)

We discuss conditions under which an outbreak occurs, estimates of spread characteristics and the effects that mitigation can play on disease trajectories. We show the trends that arise when "flattenting the curve" by decreasing $R_0$.

Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Modeling infectious epidemics. (read)

This column has an interactive supplemental component (download code) that allows you to explore how the model curves change with parameters such as infectious period, basic reproduction number and vaccination level.

Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Modeling infectious epidemics. (Interactive supplemental materials)

Bjørnstad, O.N., Shea, K., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2020) Points of significance: Modeling infectious epidemics. Nature Methods 17:455–456.

# The Outbreak Poems

Sat 04-04-2020

I'm writing poetry daily to put my feelings into words more often during the COVID-19 outbreak.

$Tears decline the plural of sad.$
$Souls look out from dark eye windows.$