The sublime fractal-based short film Gestalt (previously) has been re-rendered in high definition. Go forth and iterate.

Also, don't miss Fleischfilm's newer, and similarly unnerving Energie! - also in HD. In case you lose patience, it really starts to blow up around the minute mark. [more inside]
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Sep 1, 2009 - 24 comments

40 fractals created with Apophysis, a freeware fractal flame generator. [more inside]
posted by Upton O'Good on Jan 12, 2009 - 18 comments

"...the best place to hide bulls**t is in a refereed journal that’s not open-access!" The math-physics blog n-category cafe digs into the curious case of M.S. El Naschie. El Naschie is editor-in-chief of the journal Chaos, Solitons, and Fractals, published by the well-respected scientific publisher Elsevier and sold to academic libraries for US$4,520 a year. The problem? El Naschie has published 322 of his own papers in the journal -- papers that John Baez (of "This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics" and "The Crackpot Index") describes as "vague, dreamlike imagery," "undisciplined numerology larded with impressive buzzwords," and "total baloney." Is El Naschie a reverse Sokal? Or a Markov process for producing random publishable papers? One thing's for sure -- he knows how to cure cancer.
posted by escabeche on Nov 12, 2008 - 49 comments

Hunting the Hidden Dimension. You may be familiar with fractals, but in this PBS Nova episode, divided online into 5 parts, fractals go beyond the impossible zoom of the Mandelbrot set. Scientists are using fractals to describe complex natural occurrences, like lava, capillaries, and rain forests. In part 5, scientists measure one tree in the rain forests, and the distribution of small and large branches mirror the distribution of small and large trees. Fractals, it seems, are nature.
posted by plexi on Nov 2, 2008 - 43 comments

Paul Nylander's home page is garish and busy, but full of interesting tidbits about fractals, insects, physics, and other things.
posted by owhydididoit on May 29, 2008 - 16 comments

Sierpinski Cookies. Also: Fimo Fractals.
posted by signal on Apr 12, 2008 - 8 comments

Interactive mathematics miscellany and puzzles, including 75 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, an interactive column using Java applets, and eye-opening demonstrations. (Actually, much more.)
posted by parudox on Dec 1, 2007 - 11 comments

Chaoscope fractals showcase the beauty of chaos. Flame fractals.
posted by nickyskye on Apr 8, 2007 - 16 comments

Riemann's Curve , Airfoils, Complex Roots, More.
posted by Kwantsar on Dec 14, 2006 - 19 comments

A talk with Benoît Mandelbrot, entitled Fractals in Science, Engineering and Finance (Roughness and Beauty) [video, 80mins, realplayer] about fractals as A Theory of Roughness.
posted by MetaMonkey on Dec 3, 2006 - 5 comments

These images remind us never to underestimate our opponent. -- The science behind the art (.pdf). Fractal art by way of bacteria growin' in a petri dish. A few more images here.
posted by Gator on Mar 7, 2006 - 7 comments

Here are some nice fractal desktop pictures.
posted by obeygiant on Feb 26, 2006 - 38 comments

Fractal Eggs and how to make them.
posted by WolfDaddy on Aug 26, 2005 - 19 comments

Fractal animation videos. Tune in. Turn on. Drop in on a dripping skirling-swirling pulsating orgy of self-transforming recursive math. Some with fractal music. (Non-embedded mpeg-1 and mpeg-2 files, like God intended.)
posted by loquacious on Aug 7, 2005 - 15 comments

tune smithy ! Create beautiful snowflake like fractal music.
posted by svidrigailov23 on Jun 21, 2005 - 4 comments

Video: 4-dimensional quaternions (group of fractals) are visualized by projecting them into three-dimensional space. (x[n+1]=x[n]^p, baby.
posted by signal on Jun 16, 2005 - 21 comments

The Buddhabrot Set is a re-visualization of the Mandelbrot Set, created with a rendering technique invented by Melinda Green, who further extended it to create the Buddhagram. [Via MonkeyFilter.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 4, 2004 - 15 comments

fractal-recursions... huge gallery of images and animations made with ultra-fractal (for windows).
posted by crunchland on Aug 12, 2003 - 19 comments

Who would guess that art and insects and spiders can go hand in hand? We have art made using insect larvae, mygalomorph patterns, fractal insects, cool insects for sale, virtual insect art, and insect and spider stamps. What's you favorite insect art?
posted by Morphic on Nov 7, 2002 - 12 comments

Recreational mathematics and fractal graphics continue to stimulate the mind and foster student interest in mathematics. Some favorite authors & books in this area include: Martin Gardner's books (like The Colossal Book of Mathematics and The Night is Large), Cliff Pickover's books (like The Mathematics of Oz and The Zen of Magic Squares), Calvin Clawson's Mathematical Mysteries, Ian Stewart's books and puzzles, and Ivars Peterson's writings (like Islands of Truth). What are your favorite books and web sites in this area for stretching the mind and eye?
posted by Morphic on Nov 1, 2002 - 25 comments

HOP draws beautiful abstract images and real-time animations, based on "strange attractor" formulas, enhanced by mathematical and graphical special effects. It's a unique interactive fractal generator, but doubles as a cute screensaver if you're feeling lazy (runs in DOS/windows).
posted by walrus on Feb 7, 2002 - 2 comments