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Illinois IGB

Gallery

Art of Science Gallery 05

aos05_13
Mathematical Forestation
Blender, Open Source 3D Rendering Package

Nicholas Guttenberg
Nigel Goldenfeld Laboratory

Funded by the NSF

This is an image of tree shapes that emerge from competition for sunlight in a computational evolution experiment. To prepare for the possibility that other trees may overshadow them, trees are driven to become taller despite the energetic cost of growth. Computational open-ended evolution strategies allow researchers to create simulations that lead to new discoveries.