Medical Advances

Human as well as animal lungs cram the area of a tennis court into the volume of just a few tennis balls. The kidneys, liver, and pancreas are constructed along self-similar fractal lines. So is the human brain -- just observe the convolutions of the surface of the brain.

Viruses and bacteria have fractal surfaces that determine how they invade the body and position themselves to interfere with the body functions. The AIDS virus has been modelled with fractal geometry to help understand the unusually long incubation process. Cancers can now be detected by measuring the fractal dimension of cell structure.

Bone fractures are fractal in nature and the application of fractal geometry is being used in their healing.

The human heart beats in a fractal rhythm. If the beats were strictly regular, it would cause more wear and tear on the heart. Heart disease can often be detected by extreme or arrhythmic fractal beating.