Many of us have a few days to pause and think a bit. If you're looking for a bit of awe and wonder these introductions to two pinnacles of human creativity are good launch pads.,
First up is The Queen of the Night - that sublime aria from The Magic Flute. From Rhiannon Giddens's Aria Code podcast. (she's a music historian, composer, conductor, singer, Grammy Award winner and MacArthur Fellow)
My favorite Queen is Diana Damrau - here's an example from a recording session. that gives a sense of the athleticism of the performance
In the past I've taken a crack at explaining bits of the Riemann Hypothesis. Judging from some of the comments that came back, I did a poor job. It's centrally important to Number Theory and a proof remains elusive. Alex Kontorovich of Rutgers has a very clear beginner's level explanation of what it is and why it's so beautiful. He uses animations and requires no more than high school math -- if you know what prime numbers are and that 2 + 4i s a complex number and i2 =-1, you're good to go!
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