The Voronoi diagram, or Thiessen Polygon maps, or Dirichlet tessellation, is formed when a plane is partitioned into polygons, and each polygon encompasses one generating point. In other words, in a ...
Houseplant lovers are probably familiar with Chinese money plants, fast-growing perennials known for their coin-shaped leaves. But they might not know that their roundish greenery holds a well-known ...
When a mouse sweeps a single whisker across a textured surface, a tight cluster of neurons in its brain lights up within milliseconds. That cluster sits inside a grid of cortical columns, each one ...
We frequently need to find the nearest hospital, surgery or supermarket. A map divided into cells, each cell covering the region closest to a particular centre, can assist us in our quest. Such a map ...
Left: The round, flat leaf of Pilea Peperomioides, the Chinese money plant. Right: A computer model of a Voronoi diagram traces the leaf’s central hydathode pores and looping reticulate veins.
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American Look at giraffe’s fur and you’ll see a ...