The Same Pattern, Everywhere

River deltas, tree roots, blood vessels, city streets, lightning, irrigation canals: all exhibit the same branching architecture

Water flows through branching channels
River Delta
Sap and nutrients flow through branching roots
Tree Roots
Blood flows through the arterial tree
Blood Vessels
Arterial roads branch; the local grid behind them does not
City Streets
Electric charge flows through ionized air
Lightning
Irrigation water flows from river to fields
Irrigation Canals

They share this architecture because independent systems solve the same problem: how to move something from one configuration to another as easily as possible.