EBOOK Branches:Nature's patterns: a tapestry in three parts

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 thesame        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.