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Fractal Body |
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Lion Tracks |
Lion Den -> Anatomy & Physiology -> Course Info -> Mini Lessons -> Chaos -> FRACTAL BODY |
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| As you scan these four figures, left to
right, you'll notice that the smaller portions of the human circulation
roughly resemble the general structure (for example, the varying sizes of
vessels and the complexity of branching).
This characteristic of many human structures is called "self-similarity." Self-similarity is found in fractal structures. Fractal structures are chaotic forms that are complex even though only a few simple mathematical rules can produce their shapes. One advantage of self-similar, or fractal, structures in the human body is that such high complexity of structure allows a high complexity or amount of function. Another advantage is that since only a little information is needed to make a fractal shape, only a few genes can produce a very complex body system. If you have a medium to low resolution computer screen, you'll have to scroll to the right to see all four frames. Unless you have a really huge printer (and paper) or you copy these figures to a word processing file and reduce their size you will not be able to print this on a page. Don't worry --just look at it here. |
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