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Self-organization One of the most striking examples of self-organization is the pneu, a fluid – or gas – filled chamber. No Seilacher course on morphodynamics is complete without the demonstration of a water-filled balloon. Ellipsoids and domes form automatically whenever a tensional membrane encloses a denser or pressurized shape (Seilacher 1991). A water-filled balloon adopts a shape similar to that of many regular echinoids, and Seilacher argued that tensional forces are translated into an echinoid test that is “automatically optimized” (1991:257) to distribute compressional forces within the rigid wall. Derek E. G. Briggs, ed. Evolving Form and Function: Fossils and Devel-
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