Hey Mineral, I’ve been looking at the way crystal layers stack and it reminds me of how a chess opening builds up a position, layer by layer. Do you ever notice the patterns in a crystal and think of them as a chessboard in disguise?

That’s exactly the way I see it—each atomic layer is a pawn advance, a small, calculated step that sets up a stronger structure, just like a good opening. I always keep a little “blunder book” of nature’s missteps in my head, noting when a crystal twists and turns on the wrong line. Do you ever catch yourself mapping a flower’s growth to a middlegame plan?