click here for the plus home page
© 1997-2009, Millennium Mathematics Project, University of Cambridge.
Permission is granted to print and copy this page on paper for non-commercial use. For other uses, including electronic redistribution, please contact us.
Seven things everyone wants to know about the universe
icon

What would you like to know about your universe?

Careers with maths
icon

Andy Green is gearing up to break the land speed record in his rocket powered car Bloodhound SSC

A favourite from the archive...
Subscribe to our RSS feed:
AddThis Feed Button subscribe to our RSS feed
 
September 2009
Tags

animal patterning

Feature icon

How does the uniform ball of cells that make up an embryo differentiate to create the dramatic patterns of a zebra or leopard? How come there are spotty animals with stripy tails, but no stripy animals with spotty tails? Lewis Dartnell solves these, and other, puzzles of animal patterning.

Tags: perturbation : reaction-diffusion equations : animal patterning : morphogenesis : partial differentiation : diffusion : saturation : threshold


Feature icon

Peter Markowich is a mathematician who likes to take pictures. At first his two interests seemed completely separate to him, but then he realised that behind every picture there is a mathematical story to tell. Plus went to see him to find out more, and ended up with a pictorial introduction to partial differential equations.

Tags: navier-stokes equations : mathematics and art : differential equation : reaction-diffusion equations : animal patterning : Alan Turing : partial differential equation : optimal transportation