Cold and calculating. A Dorid nudibranch (Tritoniella belli) in Antarctica. Photo by Norbert Wu/Minden/National Geographic

Sea slugs, sound waves, falcons, and electrons all enact amazingly complex pieces of mathematics. In the fibers of their being and their ongoing activities they are mathematicians-by-practice. Here in Aeon magazine, IFF director Margaret Wertheim explores the idea that math may be seen as a kind of performance akin to playing music.