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Patterns and Humans

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Spirals and Vortices

Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection ((FRONTCOLL))

Abstract

The appearance of spiral structures on the human tongue (geographic tongue) and skin (pathological rashes) are described. Affected and often migrating areas on the tongue can be bistable, patch-like fronts or waves. Pathological rashes with an expanding region of redness is often a result of an autoimmune disease in which the human immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks healthy tissues. In addition, we show a rotating spiral created by humans, which has been described as a reaction-diffusion waves in an excitable medium.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH, USA

    Niklas Manz

  2. School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Flavio H. Fenton

Authors
  1. Niklas Manz
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  2. Flavio H. Fenton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Niklas Manz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shimadzu Europa GmbH, Duisburg, Germany

    Kinko Tsuji

  2. Institute of Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany

    Stefan C. Müller

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Manz, N., Fenton, F.H. (2019). Patterns and Humans. In: Tsuji, K., Müller, S.C. (eds) Spirals and Vortices. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05798-5_12

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