Fractals: frequency, the heart, and cáncer
A look at fractals in the sending and receiving of frequency, the anatomy of the heart, and the detection of cancer.
1
Mandelbrot's book, The fractal geometry of nature, was filled with examples of how his ideas could be useful to ---.
Select one or more answers
a
science
b
astronauts
2
Mandelbrot argued that with fractals he could exactly measure natural shapes and make calculations that could be applied to all kinds of formations from the --- patterns of rivers to the movements of clouds.
Select one or more answers
a
drainage
b
drain water
3
So this domain of growing living systems wasn't just artwork, this was new science in the making.
Select one or more answers
a
'in the making' means 'in the process of being created'
b
'growing' in this context refers to the capacity of fractals to add to each other to make bigger living systems
4
In the 1990's, a Boston radio astronomer named Nathan Cohen used fractal mathematics to make a technological breakthrough in electronic communication.
Select one or more answers
a
a 'breakthrough' is a major achievement
b
he used fractal anatomy
5
Cohen had a hobby. He was a ham radio operator but his landlord had a rule against rigging antennas on the building.
Select one or more answers
a
'ham radio' means 'radio amateur'
b
'rigging' roughly means 'attached'
6
I was in an astronomy conference in Hungary and Dr. Mandelbrot was giving a talk about the large scale structure of the universe and reporting how using --- was a very good way of understanding that kind of structure which really wowed the entire group of astronomers. He showed several --- that I, in my own mind, looked at and said: "oh, it wouldn't be funny if you made an antenna out of that shape?" I wondered what it would do.
Select one or more answers
a
fractals
b
tartans
7
One of the first designs he tried was inspired by the nineteenth-century shape of a snowflake. And I discovered, much to my surprise, that I could make the antenna much smaller using fractal design.
Select one or more answers
a
True
b
False
8
Cohen's experiment soon led to another discovery: using a fractal design not only made the antenna --- but enabled them to receive a much wider range of frequencies.
Select one or more answers
a
bigger
b
smaller
9
A mathematical theorem that showed that if you wanted to get something that works as an antenna over a very wide range of frequencies, you need to have self-similarity, it has to be fractal in its shape to make it work.
Select one or more answers
a
True
b
False
10
You needed to be able to use all these different frequencies and have access to them without ten stubby antennas sticking out at the same time.
Select one or more answers
a
The purpose was to reduce the number of antennas
b
The purpose was to maintain the number of antennas but making them nicer looking.
11
Today's fractal antennas are used in tens of --- of cellphones and other wireless communication devices all over the world.
Select one or more answers
a
thousands
b
millions
12
Once you realize that a shrewd engineer would use fractals in many, many contexts, you better understand why nature, which is shrewder, uses them in its ways.
Select one or more answers
a
True
b
False
13
The heartbeat is this timekeeper. Galileo was reported to have used his pulse to time the swinging of a pendulum motion so that it all fit with the idea that the normal heartbeat was like a metronome.
Select one or more answers
a
True
b
False
14
The patterns looked familiar to Goldberger, who happened to have read Benoit Mandelbrot's book.
Select one or more answers
a
It was a coincidence that Goldberger had read Mandelbrot's book
b
On the contrary, he had planned it beforehand
15
It has turned out that the healthy heartbeat has this --- arquitecture.
Select one or more answers
a
intricate
b
fractal
16
When it comes to a --- patient, we don't have the tools to be able to see these tiny blood vessels.
Select one or more answers
a
living
b
existent
17
What fractals do is they give you some simple rules by which you can create models and, by changing some of the parameters of the model, we can change how the structure looks.
Select one or more answers
a
True
b
False
18
Burns discovered that the two kinds of networks had very --- fractal dimensions.
Select one or more answers
a
similar
b
different
19
We always thought that we had to do digital images sharper and sharper, ever more precise, ever more microscopic in their resolution to find out the information about the structure that is there. What's exciting about this is it's giving us --- information without actually having to look through a microscope.
Select one or more answers
a
microscopic
b
macroscopic
20
We think this fractal approach may be --- in distinguishing benign and malignant lesions in a way that hasn't been possible up to now.
Select one or more answers
a
helpful
b
useful
21
Fractals are offering clues to one of biology's most tantalising mysteries: why big animals use energy more efficiently than little ones?
Select one or more answers
a
'tantalising' means 'tormenting'
b
'tantalising' means 'compelling'
22
The bigger you are you need less energy per gram of tissue to stay alive.
Select one or more answers
a
False
b
True
23
We took this big leap and said all of life in some way is sustained by these underlying networks that are transporting oxygen, resources, metabolites that are feeding cells, circulatory systems and respiratory systems and renal systems and neural systems. It was obvious that fractals were staring us in the face.
Select one or more answers
a
Fractals were saying 'hey, here we are'
b
Fractals tried to hide