Branches: Nature's patterns: a tapestry in three parts (Natures Patterns)
(Part of the Philip Ball's Tapestry in Three Parts Series)
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Book Overview
As part of a trilogy of books exploring the science of patterns in nature, acclaimed science writer Philip Ball here looks at the form and growth of branching networks in the natural world, and what we can learn from them. 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.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0199237980
ISBN13:9780199237982
Release Date:August 2009
Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
Length:240 Pages
Weight:1.00 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.9" x 8.8"
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