Nature loves spirals, and its forms tend to assume spiral configurations, Goethe maintained.

From flowers to shells, from the cochlea in our ear to the Milky Way, the spiral form, which can be mathematically described by algorithms such as the Fibonacci law, suggests the co-presence of freedom and regularity and bridges the realms of nature and culture. It is a pattern that we encounter in the green of the country and the blue of the sea, in fossils and living creatures, in structures both natural and artificial.

The Nautilus, a “living fossil” from the cephalopod family Nautilidae, is one of the most fascinating spirals in nature. A source of inspiration to poets and biologists, painters and engineers, this living spiral is a perfect symbol for the interdisciplinary enterprise for which EASLCE stands. At once delicate and remarkably resilient, this now endangered species is among the most ancient inhabitants of our oceans.

Global in its reach, but European in its roots, EASLCE takes this marine symbol also to indicate its connection to the Mediterranean Sea, cradle of western culture and crossroads of civilizations, and, like all the oceans of the world, an exploited and suffering ecosystem.

Serenella Iovino, University of Torino