http://clipmarks.com/popular/date/2007/5/6/http://rss.clipmarks.com/popular/date/2007/5/6/15Clip, tag and save information that's important to you. Bookmarks save entire pages...Clipmarks save the specific content that matters to you!en-ushttp://clipmarks.com/clipmark/1EF16870-0033-4620-BFC3-EC0D6437DD5D/<b>clipped by:</b> <a href="http://clipmarks.com/clipper/Kore7/">Kore7</a><br><b>clipper's remarks:</b> <blockquote>The seeds of a sunflower, the spines of a cactus, and the bracts of a pine cone all grow in whirling spiral patterns. Remarkable for their complexity and beauty, they also show consistent mathematical patterns that scientists have been striving to understand.<br/>...<br/>Scientists have puzzled over this pattern of plant growth for hundreds of years. Why would plants prefer the golden angle to any other? And how can plants possibly "know" anything about Fibonacci numbers?</blockquote> For the first time, scientists have found convincing biochemical mechanisms responsible for the interlocking spiral growth patterns seen in many plants. (The <a href="http://www.clipmarks.com/clipmark/11803D31-9E49-45C4-A3B1-1BE095423F86/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Romanesco broccoli plant</a> is a striking example.) The <a href="http://maven.smith.edu/~phyllo/Assets/Movies/DouadyCouderExp5.9MB.mov" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">video of the experiment</a> with magnetized liquid iron droplets demonstrates how the geometry of such growth could occur in nature. <br><div border="2" style="margin-top: 10px; border:#000000 1px solid;" width="90%"><div style="background-color:"><div align="center" width="100%" style="padding:4px;margin-bottom:4px;background-color:#666666;overflow:hidden;"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;font-weight:bold;">Clip Source: <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/mathtrek.asp" title="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/mathtrek.asp">www.sciencenews.org</a></span></div><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><TABLE width="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN><IMG alt="f8430_1261.jpg" src="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/f8430_1261.jpg" /></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD><P class="caption">Each yellow nub in the center of this daisy is actually its own miniature flower, complete with a full set of reproductive organs. The buds form interlocking clockwise and counterclockwise spirals.<BR /><SPAN>Scott Hotton</SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><TABLE width="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN><IMG alt="f8430_2288.jpg" src="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/f8430_2288.jpg" /></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD><P class="caption">The golden angle is the angle subtended by the smaller (red) arc when two arcs that make up a circle are in the golden ratio.<BR /><SPAN>Wikipedia</SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><TABLE width="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN><IMG alt="f8430_3540.jpg" src="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/f8430_3540.jpg" /></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD><P class="caption">This sunflower has 21 clockwise and 34 counterclockwise spirals.<BR /><SPAN>Scott Hotton</SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/image_cache/Kore7/512/9A164080-FE1F-4448-B8ED-3E219309F6C5.jpg" alt="f8430_4521.jpg" /><br /></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;">Plants form new seeds or buds from the center. In this picture, the circle labeled 1 would be the most recent bud. The circle labeled 2 would have been formed just previously, and it forms the golden angle with bud 1</div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><TABLE width="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN><IMG alt="f8430_5233.jpg" src="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/f8430_5233.jpg" /></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD><P class="caption">An image of the tip of a Norway spruce branch, viewed through an electron microscope, shows small buds that are primordial. In this case, they will eventually turn into needles. The primordia form at the tip and then move outward and downward.<BR /><SPAN>R. Rutishauser</SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><TABLE width="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN><IMG alt="f8430_772.jpg" src="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/f8430_772.jpg" /></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD><P class="caption">This cactus, a <SPAN>Mammilaria moellerana, has golden-angle spirals.<BR /><SPAN>Eleanor Farrington</SPAN></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></div></div></div></div><br><div style="margin-bottom: 40px;">Tags: <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/math/" rel="tag">math</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/plants/" rel="tag">plants</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/biology/" rel="tag">biology</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/symmetry/" rel="tag">symmetry</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/sprial/" rel="tag">sprial</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/science/" rel="tag">science</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/nature/" rel="tag">nature</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/geometry/" rel="tag">geometry</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/fibonacci/" rel="tag">fibonacci</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/patterns/" rel="tag">patterns</a></div>http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/mathtrek.aspMon, 07 May 2007 00:43:06 GMT