دانلود کتاب الگوها و اشکال در طبیعت: از موجودات زنده تا رفتارهای جمعی در سامانه‌های زیستی

This book, titled Patterns and Forms in Nature: From Organisms to Collective Behaviors in Biological Systems, addresses the issues of patterns and forms in biological phenomena from various perspectives—genetics, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematical sciences. Each chapter is written by scientists who describe the philosophy of their research and future perspectives as well as respective findings. Readers might wish to attend and listen to their talks if all the senior authors were to gather in one place. In fact, they were the invited speakers of the 6th Yamada Symposium held in Tokyo in 2023. It goes without saying that the discussions at the venue were lively and insightful. This book is based on 10 of the 12 lectures delivered at the symposium and is divided into 3 parts. Abstracts of all the lectures are included in the Appendix. It is our hope that this book will serve as a guide for exploring the diverse patterns and forms observed in living organisms. The timing of this publication is not unrelated to the fact that human activity is increasingly beginning to surpass nature, so let us briefly explain the background. The world around us is filled with patterns and forms of various sizes. These extend to artificial objects that once did not exist in nature. While being surrounded by man-made objects has made our lives more convenient, it has also brought about environmental changes that leave significant marks reaching deep into the Earth’s strata, such as global warming, microplastic pollution, the accumulation of radioactive substances, and loss of biodiversity. The loss of biodiversity clearly has negative effects not only on the economy and environmental services but also on our mental activities. Since ancient times, humans have been deeply fascinated by the patterns and forms found in diverse living beings. From this allure, countless forms of art have emerged, and the intellectual curiosity to understand how these patterns and shapes arise has given birth to numerous fields of study. Biodiversity has provided strong motivation for these intellectual endeavors. Humans are characterized by their intellectual activities; therefore, biodiversity must not be lost.