It was some time ago that we stumbled across the term fractal in the course of our cyber-travels. The figure at left is from the studies of Benoit Mandelbrot, a French-American mathematician, and is usually the first picture we think of when we hear the term fractal. No matter how far one zooms into a picture of a fractal, the pattern seems to repeat itself. It’s found by following a relatively simple math formula. But in the end, it’s still only 2D and flat – there’s no depth, shadows, perspective, or light sourcing.

But other mathematicians dug deeper into the set and devised a 3D possibility, called a Mandelbulb, a fractal with amazing results. The pictures are so amazing, that it’s almost looks as if we’re looking at some alien tissue under a microscope. A slew of nice fractal 3D images are presented right here.