Maze-like patterns

Maze-like patterns occur in several quite different kinds of systems. Cases in which the underlying mechanism is probably similar to that discussed in the main text include brain coral, large-scale vegetation bands seen in tropical areas, patterns of sand dunes, patterns in pre-turbulent fluid convection, and ocular dominance stripes consisting of regions of brain tissue that get marked when different dye is introduced into nerves from left and right eyes. Cases in which the underlying mechanism is probably more associated with folding of fixed amounts of material include human fingerprint patterns and patterns in ferrofluids consisting of suspensions of magnetic particles.