What is elegance for scientists? This is the kind of question that John Brockman, one of the most unique editors of our time, and also a sort of cultural animator of the scientific elite, asks his pupils once a year for the online magazine Edge.org. He is inspired by cutting-edge intellectual societies such as the Algonquin Roundtable and the Bloomsbury Group. A few years ago, he asked all those brains, "What's your favorite beautiful, deep, or elegant explanation?" There was an avalanche of responses, and Deusto has just published them in Spanish. . . .

My favourite physicist, Frank Wilczek, believes that simplicity leads to depth, elegance and beauty, adding: "There are few processes as elegant as building a baby following the DNA program."