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By: Daniel
Introduction
Have you ever awed at the fact that the heart beats more than 30 million times a year? Perhaps you have wondered how part of our lungs can have a surface area the size of a tennis court. Youre in luck! Thanks to fractals and chaos we can accurately describe and understand various parts of the human body. Researchers are working around the clock to try to solve biological problems such as cancer and cystic fibrosis. Instead of some new dangerous method, wouldnt it be wonderful if we could cure diseases by the knowledge we have gained in fractals and chaos theory? Stem cell research, radiation treatment, and any other uncertain cures may all be ruled out if fractals and chaos can take a large role in the field of biology. Come, lets find out more!
When was fractals and chaos first researched? When was chaos theory relating to biology first researched?
Henri Poincar, a notable French mathematician, was doing research on celestial mechanics in 1887 when he stumbled upon chaos. A discrete error in one of his solutions later gained fame as the foundation of all chaos theory. Since then numerous notable scientists such as Robert Shaw and Edward Lorenz have researched the subject of chaos. (Lorenz had the butterfly-effect idea)
The butterfly effect- A butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause tornadoes in Texas.
Picture from: www.emsf.rai.it/interviste/ interviste.asp?d=502
Henri Poincar
When was fractals and chaos first researched? When was chaos theory relating to biology first researched?
The father of fractals is often considered to be a man by the name of Gaston Julia. In the early 1900s, Julia did much research on iterated functions, and even drew some of his famous Julia sets by hand. True, there were some other works out there, such as Sierpinskis triangle and Kochs curve, but Julias work was a major breakthrough. Until the 1960s much of the work with fractals was abandoned due to lack of technology. That changed in the 1970s when Mandelbrot used computers to create what we now know today as the Mandelbrot Set.
When was fractals and chaos first researched? When was chaos theory relating to biology first researched?
Chaos theory relating to biology was first researched in the early 70s. Researchers were looking at how chaos theory could be used to model population trends. Several researchers, such as George Oster, Robert May, and Jim Yorke, looked at equations such as this one in their effort to model population: xt+l = l xt(1 xt). As for human biology, shortly after the Mandelbrot Set was discovered this also took off. Dynamical diseases, a term coined in this era, described diseases that show chaotic systems. Researchers such as Leon Glass and Michael Mackey did research in this field. Now, there are organizations dedicated to research with chaos theory and fractals in the field of biology.
Leon Glass
Picture from: www.physionet.org/ contributors/
Onward
Select a topic
The human heart
Brain, DNA
Lungs
Diseased heart
Doesnt exhibit slight variations in time between each beat Has a heart-rate that is steady, constant, and predictable or either extremely random
Next page
As you can see the top graph shows a normal healthy heart. The graph of the healthy heart has more complexity then the bottom graph. Complexity = healthy in many physiological aspects. The bottom time scale graph shows a heart with CHF (congestive heart failure). CHF is just one of the many diseases that causes the heart rate to lose its chaotic property. Click on the image for a further view of the normal heart-rate.
Picture from:http://www.physionet.org/tutorials/ndc/ http://www.physionet.org/tutorials/ndc/
As you can see the heart rate is very complex and does show signs of self-similarity. What is more surprising is how the heart-rate seems to lose its long range correlation as the heart becomes diseased or break down. (Click to continue)
Both of these images show what happens as the heart goes out of its normal state. The bottom left graph shows a subject with heart failure. This graph has highly periodic values with little variation. The bottom right graph shows a subject with atrial fibrillation. This heart rate is very erratic jumping from the high end of heart rate to the low end, with no particular pattern.
This may take a moment to load. It should open up a web page and load. (must have realplayer to view)
How does the fractal structure help? -The fractal structure of the veins, arteries, and heart muscles help protect the circulatory system from the strong, violent pumping of the human heart. -The fractal structure, which is usually unnecessary, can come into play when the His-Purkinje network is damaged. This helps the heart be resilient and resistant to damage. - The fractal geometry of the heart could possibly save us everyday.
The Lungs
What you are hearing is a ventilator, which hopefully you will never have to use. Thanks to the fractal geometry of our lungs, most of us dont have to use ventilators or other breathing devices. As Benoit Mandelbrot was doing his research on Fractals and Chaos, he proposed that the lung shows signs of fractal geometry. Since then several studies have been done to prove this as being true. Another notable scientist to research fractals in the lungs was Sergey V. Buldyrev.
Picture from: polymer.bu.edu/ ~sergey/home.html
The Lungs
The fractal geometry of the lungs helps the lungs resist and overcome problems and physical stress during their growth. Also, In the lungs, there are small air sacs, called alveoli, that are responsible for the diffusion of oxygen into the blood. By the lungs having fractal geometry they are more efficient. But how? The rate at which the diffusion of air through the alveoli occurs is directly proportional to the surface area of the alveoli and lungs. All of the alveoli in a human adult, have a total surface area of about 750 sq ft.! Yet, they have a tiny volume. Thus, the only way to model these alveoli is through fractals. As imagined, the fractal geometry of the alveoli is very high, usually around 2.9 or so.
Continue
The branching bronchiole tubes (top). The bronchiole tubes and the branching arteries (bottom).
Main Menu
Images from:http://www.crossroadsinstitute.org/eeg.html
If alpha rhythm is between 8 -12 Hz and has the graph shown try to guess the following. Match the graph to the type of rhythm (frequency band).
Alpha rhythm Does this look familiar to any time plots seen in the study of fractals and chaos?
Delta: .1 3 Hz
Theta: 4 8 Hz
Images from:http://www.crossroadsinstitute.org/eeg.html
A Brain Fractal.
A fractal of DNA.
,.
Main Menu
Pictures from: www.elnidodelescorpion.com/ N23/ilustraciones/..., reylab.bidmc.harvard.edu, http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helge_von_Koch www.colorcube.com/ illusions/dither.htm http://math.youngzones.org/Fractal%20webpages/histor y_fractals.html
Benoit Mandelbrot.
Credits
Slayden, Cameron. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Welcome to Modern Biology Science 291, 1177 (2001). http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~mwallace/ModernBiology/ (image) May, Robert. The chaotic rhythms of life 10/2/2002 http://members.fortunecity.com/templarser/rhythm.html Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 SP3, Microsoft Clipart Gallery Rae, Greg.Chaos Theory: A Brief Introduction Jan. 31st, 2003 http://www.imho.com/grae/chaos/chaos.html With sources of:
"Bach to Chaos: Chaotic Variations on a Classical Theme", Science News, Dec. 24, 1994, pg. 428. Science Gleick, James, Chaos - Making a New Science, Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Middlesex, 1987. Lowrie, Peter, personal interview over the Internet, May 17, 1995. 1995. Rae, Kevin, "Chaos", unpublished paper, submitted to Professor Gould, Modern Physics class, Gould, Claremont McKenna College, December 5, 1994. Stewart, Ian, Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos, Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Penguin Middlesex, 1989.
Browne, Malcolm. The Fractal Heart. New York Times, unknown date http://www.nyu.edu/classes/neimark/FRACT1.HTM Landau, Misia. Healthy Heart Keeps Polyrhythmic Beat, March 8th, 2002. Harvard Medical, Dental, and Public Health Schools