ENGLISH

Branches: Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts (Nature's Patterns : a Tapestry in Three Parts)

By Philip Ball

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
2009
ISBN
0199237980, 9780199237982
Open Library ID
OL10146148M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
7 MB (7174717 bytes)
Series
Nature's Patterns : a Tapestry in Three Parts
Edition
1
Pages
232\232
Topic
Art Music: Guitar
Time added
2010-05-31 15:29:46

Description

Patterns are everywhere in nature--in the ranks of clouds in the sky, the stripes of an angelfish, the arrangement of petals in flowers. Where does this order and regularity come from? As Philip Ball reveals in Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts, this order creates itself. The patterns we see come from self-organization. Indeed, scientists have found that there is a pattern-forming tendency inherent in the basic structure and processes of nature, whether living or non-living, so that from a few simple themes, and the repetition of simple rules, endless beautiful variations can arise. Many patterns in nature show a branching form - trees, river deltas, blood vessels, lightning, the cracks that form in the glazing of pots. These networks share a peculiar geometry, finding a compromise between disorder and determinism, though some, like the hexagonal snowflake or the stones of the Devil's Causeway fall into a rigidly ordered structure. Branching networks are found at every level in biology - from the single cell to the ecosystem. Human-made networks too can come to share the same features, and if they don't, then it might be profitable to make them do so: nature's patterns tend to arise from economical solutions.

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