Geoffrey B. West, James H. Brown*, Brian J. Enquist. A General Model for the Origin of Allometric Scaling Laws in Biology. Science 04 Apr 1997: Vol. 276, Issue 5309, pp. 122-126 DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5309.122 File:Science_276_122_1997.pdf ^[1]

Fractal-like networks effectively endow life with an additional fourth spatial dimension. This is the origin of quarter-power scaling that is so pervasive in biology. Organisms have evolved hierarchical branching networks that terminate in size-invariant units, such as capillaries, leaves, mitochondria, and oxidase molecules. Natural selection has tended to maximize both metabolic capacity, by maximizing the scaling of exchange surface areas, and internal efficiency, by minimizing the scaling of transport distances and times. These design principles are independent of detailed dynamics and explicit models and should apply to virtually all organisms.

Geoffrey B. West,*James H. Brown, Brian J. Enquist. The Fourth Dimension of Life: Fractal Geometry and Allometric Scaling of Organisms. Science 04 Jun 1999: Vol. 284, Issue 5420, pp. 1677-1679 DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5420.1677 ^[2]

Luís M. A. Bettencourt The Origins of Scaling in Cities Science 340, 1438 (2013); DOI: 10.1126/science.1235823 File:Science-2013-Bettencourt-1438-41.pdf ^[3]

• Geoffrey B. West, James H. Brown*, Brian J. Enquist. A General Model for the Origin of Allometric Scaling Laws in Biology. Science 04 Apr 1997: Vol. 276, Issue 5309, pp. 122-126 DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5309.122 文件:Science 276 122 1997.pdf
• Geoffrey B. West,*James H. Brown, Brian J. Enquist. The Fourth Dimension of Life: Fractal Geometry and Allometric Scaling of Organisms. Science 04 Jun 1999: Vol. 284, Issue 5420, pp. 1677-1679 DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5420.1677 File:West et al 1999 The fourth dimension of life.Science.pdf
• Luís M. A. Bettencourt The Origins of Scaling in Cities Science 340, 1438 (2013); DOI: 10.1126/science.1235823 文件:Science-2013-Bettencourt-1438-41.pdf