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Articles on Fractals

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The same amino acid can be encoded by anywhere from one to six different strings of letters in the genetic code. Andrzej Wojcicki/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Your genetic code has lots of ‘words’ for the same thing – information theory may help explain the redundancies

Many of the amino acids that make up proteins are encoded by genetic material in more than one way. An information theorist explains how principles of nature may account for this variance.
How many lakes are in Alaska? Thermokarst lakes on Alaska’s North Slope are self-similar and fractal. Painting by Cherissa Dukelow

Mathematics of scale: Big, small and everything in between

What do earthquakes, wealthy Italian families and your circulatory system have in common? Scientists use fractals, self-similarity and power laws to translate from local to global scales.
What starts as a flap of wings can end – metaphorically – in a hurricane. horizontal.integration

Explainer: what is Chaos Theory?

Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones … Nature exhibits not simply a higher degree but an altogether different level of complexity. - Benoît Mandelbröt, The Fractal Geometry of Nature Chaos (n…

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