We are surrounded by order that physics cannot explain. The spread of veins in the back of your hand mirror the spread of branches on a tree; fern leaves look a lot like maps of fjords; and the pulse patterns of your heartbeat resemble some classical music. But the theory of universality uses fractal patterns to explain much of the world around us. Universality argues that there are similar patterns behind the most unpredictable events, such as earthquakes, avalanches, stock market crashes, and even the way businesses are run and the way fashions come and go. While identifying patterns does not mean we can always predict what will happen next, some of the trends scientists are noticing could deepen our understanding of natural phenomena and our relationship to them.

Mark Ward is a journalist who has written about science and technology for the New Scientist, the Daily Telegraph and the trade magazine Computer Weekly. He is now a technology reporter for the BBC. Mark Ward is the author of Virtual Organisms: The Startling World of Artificial Life (Pan).