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Dr. Jonathan Wolfe
Fractals and the Nervous System |
| Fractals are complex patterns showing similar detail over a wide
range of scales. These patterns are generally formed by repetition of a simple process, which accounts
for their ubiquity in nature. The fractal structure of biological systems such as lungs, blood vessels,
and neurons is strikingly similar to that of other much larger systems, such as river networks, lightning
bolts and trees. This scale-independent fractal geometry confers many important functional advantages.
Recursion, or feedback, is the primary mechanism responsible for the generation of fractal structures in
nature. Recursion also plays a key role in the functioning of the central nervous system. The hundred
billion neurons in the human brain are connected in a vast network of feedback loops, and information is
recursively processed. Chaos theory, strange attractors and fractals provide a powerful framework to
explore such high-level brain phenomena as object recognition, attentional modulation, and the searchlight
hypothesis of consciousness. |
| Jonathan Wolfe, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Fractal
Foundation, a New Mexico nonprofit that uses the beauty of fractals to inspire interest and participation
in science, math and art. An Albuquerque native, he received his B.A. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins,
and his doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, he returned
home to New Mexico to pursue his passions as an artist, specializing in the unique medium of hotair balloons.
His love of fractals continues to spiral upward and outward, reaching ever larger audiences, most recently
through the extremely successful "First Friday Fractals" program at the NM Museum of Natural History and
Science Planetarium. |
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