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Why doesn’t nature like squares?

Why doesn’t nature like squares?

Famous Austrian artist Friedrich Hundertwasser once said that ‘the straight line is something cowardly drawn with a rule, without thought or feeling; it is a line which does not exist in nature’. But where does nature’s seeming inability to form regular shapes come from? We asked Dr Paweł Jedynak from the Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry to tell us more about natural geometry.


Why aren’t eggs cubes? Because nature is lazy. It just doesn’t hold so much respect for perfect, regular shapes as we do. The exception here are circles and spheres, which are easy to create, since it essentially involves steady growth in all directions from a single point. Squares, on the other hand, would require much more precise control, varied growth pace, and great coordination. Even describing such a process would be very complicated. So why make something harder than it needs to be?

Painful truth

Longhorn cowfish

Squares, cubes, and other angular shapes have one more disadvantage. Laying a cube-shaped egg would most likely be very painful. It would result in internal bleeding, possibility infection, and even clogging of fallopian tubes. That would undoubtedly discourage all attempts at procreation in living organisms, forcing a whole species into celibacy and extinction.

On the other hand, the same cube-like shape protects the longhorn cowfish (Lactoria cornuta) from predators. It’s one of a very few exceptions, since streamlining is important for efficient movement in all environments, be it on land, sea, or air. Square shapes make it difficult for an animal to move fast.

Square problems

Wombat and its droppings

There aren’t many things that can shock or impress a scientist, but wombats – adorable but grumpy Australian marsupials – have managed to do that. The reason is that their droppings look like… small cubes. Such extravagance is rare in the animal kingdom and requires explanation. Although now we understand the mechanisms behind this (a specialised part of the animals' intestine stiffens to form cubes), we’re still not sure why it happens.

It may be because cube-shaped droppings are less likely to roll down from higher to lower ground, making them useful for marking territory. Wombats have been known to stack their faeces into piles, and it’s easier when they have a regular shape. Or maybe living in sweltering heat requires conserving even the tiniest drop of water, which returns to the animals’ organisms through the intestine wall, while dried out droppings are disposed of? Biologists are still not sure, and wombats aren’t too eager to provide an explanation.

Piece by piece

Manmade objects exhibit far more regularity than it’s possible to find in nature. This is because we usually design large things to be built out of smaller parts, like bricks or building blocks. Flat surfaces and right angles make this task a lot easier, and we like to have everything planned out and under control. Nature is different: it’s a constant and ceaseless war for space and resources. Every shape and every part of every organism is not the result of a plan, but rather an armistice. Wind and water turn boulders to pebbles, and tree branches grow outward toward the sun, stealing its rays from shorter plants below. Function over form – every single time.

Images:
1. Wombat. Photograph by Diana S. Fleischman (Twitter: @sentientist)
2. Longhorn cowfish. Photograph Mark Norman / Museum Victoria

Original text: www.nauka.uj.edu.pl

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