Fractals are a weird and intriuging branch of mathematics that have some amazing applications. They are also remarkably beautiful – if I get time I will pop some pictures of them here.

Now if you are interested in the practical applications then I have some links to get you started on the medical, biological, astrophysical and broadcasting technology below. There is plenty more once you start looking – enjoy the journey!

Medical imaging research is finding that fractals are a remarkably efficient way to analyse images for signs of disease

Cell biology is a wonderfully interest area that shown tremendous development recently.  Here is a quick summary of fractals as applied to cell biology 

Astrophysics has been asking the question: does the universe have a large scale fractal quality?  Yes, no, maybe.  Initial interest developed some great theories which may ultimately fail to apply at very large scale (on the order of 350 million light years).  Astrophysics being what it is, this may well be revisited with new information.

Broadcast antenna were the starting point for Fractenna, a company specialising in novel fractal-related products. Branching out into adjacent fields, Fractenna’s founder suggests that it may be possible to create invisibility cloaks using technology similar to microwave cloaking for buildings.  Strange but true?