Fractals!!!!

F is for fractal, a mathematical pattern often found in nature. Often, when I tell biologists that coolest part of biology is the fractals and the math, they look at me like I have two heads (sigh). What you see on the left is a Sierpinski triangle that can induce seizures. If your high school math was like mine, then the triangle was first introdution to fratcals, along with that tree.
Have you looked at a Queen Ann's Lace flower? (Looks like hemlock flowers?)  If you study it, you can see the the fractal pattern. Stems break out of the top, and become smaller and smaller, forming that beautiful lace look. It shows up in pine-cones, trees, and even bacterial growth follows fractal patterns. It what got me excited to start working as a mycology lab flunkie. Here's where I got the image. http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/sierpinski/1deposit2sierp.gif