Host Kurt Andersen and astronomer Mario Livio discuss how the properties of symmetry link human life and creativity with universal principles that inform all the sciences. We hear how symmetry defines the works of M.C. Escher, Johann Sebastian Bach, Steve Reich, and others. And a beauty expert considers whether symmetry makes us sexier. [Hour-long show co-produced for PRI‘s “Studio 360“.]

An example in nature of vertical reflection, one of the most basic kinds of symmetry (but far from the only kind).