Positive feedback leading to overstimulation. Traditionally, scientists have looked for the simplest view of the world around us. Now, mathematics and computer power have produced a theory that helps researchers to understand the complexities of nature. The chaos theory. If you watch from a bridge as a leaf floats down the stream, you may see it trapped by a small whirlpool, circulate a few times, and escape, only to be trapped again further down the stream.
Small changes lead to bigger changes later.
This behaviour is the signature of chaos. Chaos theory is an exciting, growing field which involves the study of a range of phenomena exhibiting sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Some natural systems, such as the weather, are so sensitive to even small local fluctuations, if you change a parameter ever so slightly, the results can be very different. This is called the butterfly-effect, meaning that a butterfly moving its wings on one continent can, theoretically, influence the weather on another. Chaos and fractal geometry go hand in hand.