Abstract
One of the major puzzles in biology is how a complex organism is formed from a simple egg. The process involves many instances where symmetry is broken, and a more symmetric situation leads to a less symmetric one. Many of these breaks in symmetry seem to have no external trigger, but are generated internally. How can this be done? And, crucially, how can it be done robustly, so that it is not disrupted by perturbations in the system or in the environment? Similar questions arise throughout biology, and the study of pattern formation is an important part of mathematical biology.
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© 2003 Springer-Verlag London
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Britton, N.F. (2003). Pattern Formation. In: Essential Mathematical Biology. Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0049-2_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0049-2_7
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-536-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0049-2
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