Mathematics? It's all just life.

[Beestie]

Nature follows some pretty basic but very elegant mathematical patterns.I would check out Fibonacci numbers , the golden rectangle and logarithmic spirals.

I'm not a big fan of chaos theory and, but for the beauty of the metaphor, the "butterfly effect" idea with its stretched-to-the-breaking-point logic would have never made it out of the research paper it originally appeared in.

You can also get some really cool ideas from scientists who have tried to explain physics in lay terms like Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking but that might take a little longer than what you had in mind.

Good luck - sounds like a cool project. If possible, why not post the story here when you are through with it. I'd love to read it as I'm sure many here would.