How do cells know what they should become as the body develops? Biological development depends crucially on spatial patterns: the lines that eventually give rise to segments, organs, or markings like ...

Physicists show how patterns can emerge from chaos in turbulent fluids. The turbulent motion of a tumbling river or the outflow from a jet engine is chaotic: that is, it contains no obvious pattern.

Some patterns arise simply or randomly, but others develop via complex, precise interactions of pattern-generating systems. Their beauty aside, the intricacies of these systems are inspiring the ...