You might want to check out Prof John D Barrow's thoughts on the "golden ratio" in nature. He thinks that many/most of the "occurrences" fall into the same category as those images of Christ appearing on burnt toast -- people "see" the golden ratio because they are primed to look for it. He's measured many of these occurrences, and they don't hold up. His email is J.D.Barrow@damtp.cam.ac.uk. He recently did a very interesting set of videos for the Olympics about the "physics of sport", all of which are available on the web for free download. At 07:23 AM 8/14/2012, Alex Bellos wrote:
I've just launched a maths blog for the Guardian
Here's my first post: the research is serious, but any conclusions need to be taken with a medium to large dosage of salt.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2012/aug/14...
alex