Tag: symmetry

27th March 2026

My sensible personality loves symmetry. Yet there is a constant tugging in my heart to ensure my surroundings are accented by asymmetry. One manifests in the placing of items I observe around my home; the organising of goods to the flowers I find beautiful. The other in my irregular style – including the ring I said I do to. Symmetry and asymmetry are curiously foundational aspects of the world around us. However there appears a randomness to their presence and they contradict, which seems surprising given the efficiency of nature. There are potential explanations as to why both co-exist but our understanding is murky….  

Ask anyone and they would suggest, simple symmetry is where something can at a minimum be divided into two identical halves. Asymmetry is where this is not possible. However delving further I was plunged beyond this surface; glimpsing how subject specialists consider symmetry and its nemesis through more complicated lenses. In addition to our simple visual symmetry there are multiple other types of symmetry – bilateral, rotational, translational for example. Although I should not silo given nature operates in an integrated way, I thought it useful to appreciate how cardinal the concept of symmetry is to many strands of research and science. From the internet: 

• Biology – Symmetry in biology is the balanced arrangement of body structures or biological features around an axis or plane (we see this visually in various elements of nature).

• Mathematics –  Symmetry is a property of a shape, object, or system that remains unchanged under a transformation (such as rotation, reflection, translation, a change in place of parts of an equation).

• Physics – Where systems or physical laws are unchanged under transformations of space, time, or other physical properties (for example gravity on Earth, forces) so no matter where you are present the laws remain the same. That is symmetry in physics means something stays the same even if you do it in a different place or on another day, which leads to the conservation of energy and momentum.

Following this through – we see symmetry in the wild – in flowers such as daisies or sunflowers, snowflakes, moth and butterfly wings, peas, honeycombs, spider webs. In mathematics we find it is shapes such as squares, circles or particular algebraic equations which remain unchanged after a transformation. With some overlap with physics, Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetism, Einstein’s equations of general relativity, the law of the conservation of energy and gravity arise because of the existence of symmetry. 

I cannot explain further as to how symmetry manifests, as my A-level physics does not allow my brain to stretch in that way. Suffice to say, I hope I have suggested to you the depth and importance of these supposedly marginal notions of symmetry and asymmetry in science and that this is a complex area worthy of further study. 

So why then does symmetry exist? There are many explanations. Symmetry suggests efficiency and has likely evolved as it can enable a lower requirement for information and instructions – for example, a bee hive hexagonal structure demands less wax. Symmetry allows an ease of processing by reducing visual complexity. That is a brain requires less neural computation to decipher symmetrical aspects. Aesthetically symmetrical forms signal cleanliness, stability, order, which can engender visual satisfaction – example – why we tend to be drawn to more symmetrical faces and bees are enticed by symmetrical flowers. In the physics realm symmetry supports conservation and stability. 

But then along saunters asymmetry. We are not sure why it occurs. but it does. For example take a human: Our organs are not arranged symmetrically around a straight line; we are left or right handed. And our brains are not functionally symmetric – we have a left and right. Then there is the existence of matter and anti-matter. Everything in the universe is made of matter. Anti-matter is when positively charged particles become negative and vice versa. They are mirror images. The laws of physics suggest seconds after creation, we should have had an equal amount of positively charged and negatively charged matter (symmetry) and then imploded. But this did not happen. Matter survived in excess creating our galaxy, the stars and moons we observe. This is an asymmetry and in that sense we should be grateful it parries with symmetry so. 

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic which finds beauty in imperfection which is how I view asymmetry and enjoy its place in my life. It signals complexity, an inability to define or be put in ones box. I relish we can’t explain everything around or about us and although symmetry is fundamental to life, asymmetry is too and moreover on our behalf, helps us fight the battle of being a little different. Which is no bad thing for someone trying to escape being sensible…..