To some, Jackson Pollock’s art is a chaotic mass of paint, but those who love his work may be reacting to the fact that the splatters are actually fractals, and thus mirror the patterns of the natural world. In this program, Professor Marcus de Sautoy explores recurring shapes found in nature and the geometric principles that unite them. He reveals that the stones of the Giant’s Causeway are six-sided for the same reason that honeycombs are, and explains why soap bubbles are spheres—except when they’re dodecahedrons. In addition, a Pixar cofounder shows how Mandelbrot’s theories were used to create the first virtual worlds. Produced by the Open University. Part of the series The Math Code. (60 minutes)