The Algorithmic Beauty of Sea Shells

• Main Author: Meinhardt, Hans. (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009.
• Series: The Virtual Laboratory,
• Subjects: Life sciences.; Computer simulation.; Computer graphics.; Biology > Data processing.; Evolution (Biology).; Humanities.; Life Sciences.; Life Sciences, general.; Computer Appl. in Life Sciences.; Computer Graphics.; Simulation and Modeling.; Evolutionary Biology.; Fine Arts.
• Online Access: https://ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-92142-4

The patterns on the shells of tropical sea snails are not only compellingly beautiful but also tell a tale of biological development. The decorative patterns are records of their own genesis, which follows laws like those of dune formation or the spread of a flu epidemic. Hans Meinhardt has analyzed...

Table of Contents:

• Shell patterns as dynamic systems
• Pattern formation
• Oscillation and travelling waves
• Superposition of stable and periodic patterns
• Meshwork of oblique lines and staggered dots
• Branch initiation by global control
• The big problem: two or more time-dependent patterns
• Triangles
• Parallel lines with tongues
• Shell models in three dimensions
• The computer program
• Appendix: Pattern formation in the development of higher-level organisms.