When it comes to high-performance filtration, separation, sunlight collection, surface charge storage or catalysis, the effective surface area is what counts. Highly regular fractal structures seem to ...

If you were to strip away the walls, floors, and insulation, you’d see that most buildings are constructed on a frame of beams. Most beams are made from steel, and while strong, they’re fairly ...

Marcus du Sautoy describes how fractal geometry can be used to describe natural objects, and how it is used in digital animation. Trees use the simple rule of trying to maximise surface area, and this ...

See: our gallery of how the Mandelbrot set burst out of two dimensions It may look like a piece of virtuoso knitting, but the makers of an image they call the Mandelbulb (see right) claim it is ...

High-resolution imaging and 3D computer modeling show that the dendrites of neurons weave through space in a way that balances their need to connect to other neurons with the costs of doing so. The ...