While mathematicians such as Sierpiński and Mandelbrot are famous for investigating mathematical versions, fractals actually occur in all sorts of places in nature: in lightning bolts, blood vessels, ...

Marcus du Sautoy describes how fractal geometry can be used to describe natural objects, and how it is used in digital animation. Trees use the simple rule of trying to maximise surface area ...

From the spiral arms of galaxies to microscopic snow crystals, nature seems to fall into fractal-like patterns that repeat in increasingly smaller increments. No matter how small you go ...