#30DAYSOFSCIKUCHALLENGE
Let’s Go on A Möbius Trip
Day 5 Prompt: Cell Biology-inspired Haiku
Chromosomes unzip
rings of genes, one side, one edge
a Möbius strip
Mathematicians and scientists have been described as seekers of knowledge who “build castles in the air” for the sheer beauty of the structure, with no thought of practical or scientific applications.
When the Möbius strip was first described in 1858, it was a purely mathematical curiosity. Any ordinary surface has two sides, but Herr Alfred Möbius showed there exist surfaces having only one side and one edge.
I’ll prove it to you. Cut a strip of paper and tape the ends together. If you’re a normal person, you’ve made a conventional loop that has two sides, an inside and an outside. Now, this time, make another loop by giving one end of the strip a half-twist before you attach the ends. Voilá! You’ve created a Möbius strip!
A burleycue dancer, a pip
named Virginia, could peel in a zip;
but she read science fiction
and died of constriction
attempting a Möbius strip. –– C. Kornbluth
