"Growing" a Solution to a Complex Biological Problem

Like a complex highway system, a network of vessels carries blood from the heart to all corners of your body and back again. This "distribution network" is not only complicated, it is also huge and astoundingly efficient. Even when one part of the body is injured, flow to and from the rest of the body is rarely interrupted.Many living organisms exhibit networks like this, from animals to plants. Understanding why these networks are so efficient could help us design better, more reliable systems ...