The Mathematics of Trees | Tomorrow Today

More from this edition of Tomorrow Today: http://www.dw.de/tomorrow-today-the-science-magazine-2014-09-08/e-17849915-9798

Claus Mattheck is constantly amazed by what trees have to teach us about the world around us. The physicist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology studies the shapes that trunks and leaves take, and has used some of them to describe fundamental properties of naturally-occurring forms.

The research has helped engineers in a wide variety of fields to build components that are stronger and less apt to break.