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29 May 2010

Studying Chaos and Fractals


"Researchers discovered a simple set of three equations that graphed a fern. This started a new idea - perhaps DNA encodes not exactly where the leaves grow, but a formula that controls their distribution. DNA, even though it holds an amazing amount of data, could not hold all of the data necessary to determine where every cell of the human body goes. However, by using fractal formulas to control how the blood vessels branch out and the nerve fibers get created, DNA has more than enough information. It has even been speculated that the brain itself might be organized somehow according to the laws of chaos."
http://www.stsci.edu/~lbradley/seminar/

I am getting inspired by thinking of how this world works - maybe there are hidden fractals everywhere! They are there just to discover!
So, a fractal has come to mean any image that displays the attribute of self-similarity.
One of the most simple one is Mandelbrot fractal:
Again, check out the pages listed above for more information!

I am learning for the exam of "Introduction to Mathematical Modelling" and for that I am getting into all those interesting fields of science and world - fractals, chaos, self-organisation and sync! 
I even ordered a book,
Steven Strogatz "Sync. The emerging science of spontaneous order",
after writing an essay about natural rhythms and their syncronicity and about female moon cycle - it works like magic!

So yes,
even though I am in science now, I see the edges of it and the places where it starts to reach the magic, patterns and beauty!
Just go into the thing you are dealing with and start seeing what is it made out of - you might find something fascinating!

Meanwhile,
enjoy the smell of the spring, at least here in the northern hemisphere, around 60 degrees of latitude!


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Steps on the planet Earth