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NIMBioS Logo
The spiral is a common organizational theme in nature, seen, for example, in the coiled shells of molluscs, the structure of DNA, the cochlea of the inner ear, the arms of hurricanes and spiral galaxies, and the arrangement of seeds on a flower head. Many hypotheses have been proposed for the ubiquity of such spiral arrangements, such as leaf spacing around a plant stem being an arrangement which intersects sunlight most efficiently.
The rates of expansion of spirals in the natural world tend to exhibit harmonic proportion and progression. Successive spiral revolutions are noted as following the Golden Ratio (Phi) and the Fibonacci Series. In the Fibonacci Series, beginning with 0 and 1, each subsequent number is the sum of the 2 previous numbers. As the sequence progresses, the ratio of each number to its preceding number approaches Phi (1.6180...).
The NIMBioS logo is a logarithmic spiral similar in shape to a Nautilus shell, for which the distance between successive whorls increases in a geometric progression, maintaining an unchanging self-congruent whorl shape as the size of its spiral revolutions increases. The unique mathematical properties of logarithmic spirals and their significance in nature make this logo fitting for a science synthesis center that explores the interface between mathematics and biology.
Click here for NIMBioS logo image files.
