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Amazing Randomness
06 August 2017

Amazing Randomness

Nature’s patterns may look random, but there are usually some hidden rules. Our cells grow out in swirls to make fingerprints, trees branch occasionally when reaching towards the sky, fractals guide the shapes found in feathers to flowers. A similar combination of rules and randomness produced these artificial mazes, around one million times smaller than Hampton Court Maze. Tiny particles carved with shapes – like left turns, T-junctions and dead ends – are scattered randomly under a film of silica jelly. As the jelly dries it wrinkles over the design underneath, forming the unique patterns (top). A computer algorithm wanders through each maze’s paths (white lines, bottom) from start (green dot) to finish (red dot), finding the shortest path (red line). Although these techniques could be used to make customised structures for growing living cells, they might also test how microorganisms find their way around – skills which they employ when spreading disease.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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