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From: bseeg@spectra.COM (Bob Seegmiller)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Fractals as Bad Science
Summary: whoops
Keywords: Fractals, DNA, apology
Message-ID: <303@spectra.COM>
Date: 6 Jan 90 02:13:22 GMT
References: <119.256E54C5@uscacm.UUCP> <1247@becker.UUCP> <9144@cbmvax.commodore.com> <6780@lindy.Stanford.EDU> <9215@cbmvax.commodore.com> <12707@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: bseeg@spectra (Bob Seegmiller)
Distribution: na
Organization: Spectragraphics, Corp., San Diego, CA
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>I'm not familiar with any structures or systems (both
>physical -- a.k.a. tissues/organs) in living organisms that can be
>fractally described.  (Please note emphasis on physical -- I'm not
>addressing neural organization, or behaviors of any of such systems --
>that belongs in another news group -- simply what can be genetically
>constructed from DNA.)

Before too much time goes by, I need to apologize to this forum:
 both someone at longs.lance.colostate.edu and
 Kevin_P_McCarty@cup.portal.com have pointed out (one referring to
 Mandelbrot's book) that both the circulatory and pulmonary system have
 fractal characteristics.  I should have limited myself to Mr.
 Mitchell's statement on possible fractal encoding of genetic
 information and that the human genome was small.  In the interim, I
 asked a local (UCSD) researcher about the size of the human genome:
 offhand number he gave me was 10^14 base pairs, but don't quote him (so
 I haven't).  I'd thought it was big (> 10^9), but ... >whew<

'Nuff said.
-- 
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| Bob Seegmiller <The usual disclaimer> | .....................               |
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