This is Why … Giraffes and Garlic Bulbs Share a Mathy Secret

What do giraffe spots, garlic bulbs, tree canopies, and ice formations all have in common? They are just a few gorgeous examples of Voronoi patterns, also known as Thiessen polygons or Dirichlet tessellations. I’ve been thinking about Voronoi patterns a lot lately because they have inspired our architecture friends in their visualizations of the science