Fractal Design in Nature

Maths, Geometry, and Physics comprise the language understood universe-wide by every creature, plant, waterbed, even planets, and galaxies. The structure of this language is like a web holding everything, that has ever been created, together. From the threads of this web, there is an eternal creation.We actually don't have to be maths or physics prodigies in order to understand this amazing connection, we only need to look a bit closer and appreciate everything that surrounds us and is within us. Nothing has appeared randomly or by chance because there is a sacred pattern in all creation, one that is prescribing the workings and development of our macrocosm and microcosm. Maybe, by the first glance, all that has ever been created seems very complicated. 

Koch's snowflake equation

Only if we knew that this complexity comes from an ungraspable simplicity which plays the game of imitation, repetition, and interconnectedness. That simple shape or geometric object is the most profoundly beautiful building block for all existence is the fractal. A fractal is a never-ending pattern that repeats itself at different scales. (Source - http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-are-fractals/)  In mathematical terms, according to Benoit Mandelbrot, the mathematician who first coined the term "fractal" (meaning fractured of broken in Latin) in 1975, this intricate form can be derived when a simple equation is calculated thousands of times feeding the answer back to the start. 

Madelbrot's fractal

Using this calculation in computer design, wonderful everlasting fractal designs can be created, and when animated, thus when motion is added to the picture, we can clearly see that the whole image is created of the ongoing fractals of itself.  Just like looking at yourself in an infinite mirror. 

Take for example a snowflake and zoom it in, you will notice thousands of little fractals that work together and resemble the snowflake in its entirety.  To understand it better in our own experience, we can imagine a line dance at a wedding, where you would be the continuation of every person participating in it, almost infinitely connecting with one another in the creation of the beautiful unifying dance.  Therefore, in this case, you are the fractal that is repeated by the person next to you, and the one next to him/her, comprising the whole line dance. There is something pleasing to the eye when you look at fractal designs like these, it makes you feel both soothed and excited just like coming home from a long journey. It is no wonder because these little forms can be found within everything that has been, is and will be our home.They are everywhere in nature, even within our own being as a continuation of nature. Such wonderful example is the lotus flower and the succulents like the species Aloe Polyphilla. And what is the similarity between the trees, river networks, and lightning bolts, I wonder?  Well each of them branch out in these fractal patterns different only in scale adjusting to the fractal dimension. Now notice a seashell, a hurricane, and a galaxy, no matter their purpose or devastation, they all expand into this beautiful spiral that flows on and on. And how about our arms, take a closer look.

Their elements, the deltoid region (the shoulder), the upper arm, the lower arm, the hand, and each of the fingers comprised of the proximal, middle and distal phalanx, are also fractals branching out in perfect order too. These elements are literally everywhere, in our DNA structure, our hair follicles, in the pine cone, in the water drops, the rings of the wood, the threads knitted in our carpets. It is even in the way our brains work. The neurons talk to each other creating lightning pathways that resemble the cosmic web. It sure makes you wonder whether the universe is one giant mind and everything that is in it is just a fractal neuron caught up in this galactic chatter, a giant mind that is perceiving itself through listening to and through the glimpses of this magnificent communication.