A tree branch, a ram's horn, your hand - how have these distinct and consistent shapes come about? The growth and form of a biological entity is a complex matter that involves integrated activities across a number of length scales. Viewed at the scale of tissues, or large clusters of cells, understanding growth and form is a problem well suited for continuum mechanics and mathematical modelling.
Find out more about how this applies not only to your hands, but to rubber balls and even stalks of rhubarb in the latest in the Oxford Mathematics Alphabet series.