Branches : Nature's patterns: a tapestry in three parts Paperback / softback
by Philip (, Freelance writer and consultant editor for ^INature^R) Ball
Paperback / softback
Description
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.
Information
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Out of stock
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:232 pages, 140 black and white illustrations, 4pp colour plate section
- Publisher:Oxford University Press
- Publication Date:26/05/2011
- Category:
- ISBN:9780199604883
Information
-
Out of stock
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:232 pages, 140 black and white illustrations, 4pp colour plate section
- Publisher:Oxford University Press
- Publication Date:26/05/2011
- Category:
- ISBN:9780199604883
