It's basically a decentralized algorithm involving sugar defecits, auxin signalling, calcium flooding whenever cells stretch (due to gravity or wind), and ethylene release.
Trees can use all these signals to know which branches are being shaded or dealing with a lot of wind, which side it's being pulled towards more, etc.
Trees also optimize for their overall wind profile. Dropping branches that cause it more drag than they are worth in the sugar they make. The lower their wind profile, the lower the risk of the whole tree being uprooted during a storm.
When humans cut the wrong branches, it throws everything off balance.
Different level of "Tree DB", I know, was still reminded that I at one point did something that required us to have a pipeline for downloading these trees location.
When you look closely, plants are made of many overlapping and highly sophisticated molecular state machines. The particular balance of select signaling molecules in a specific place within the plant triggers different response behaviors.
It's super fascinating to research all the different little mechanisms plants use to drive their growth and development. As an embedded developer, I find molecular biology strangely compelling. It's fun to see the "glue logic" nature evolved to solve all kinds of problems
Probably the last truly great classical improviser on piano was Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894). His Fantaisie in E minor, Op. 77 is probably the pinnacle of his skill in (notated) improvisation.
After that, the great classical improvisers were probably organists in the 20th century, like Marcel Dupré (1886-1971) and Pierre Cochereau (1924-1984). Cochereau created vast, highly personal, symphonic forms with dazzling orchestral registration.
On the contrary I fully support vaccines and I wear a helmet while cycling. The mandatory helmet law in Australia backfired pretty badly by reducing the numbers of people cycling. Those who promise mandatory laws for bicycle helmets tend to be anti-cycling and also tend to support notions that cyclists pay “road tax”.
Seen that you take a dig at anti-vaxxers... To be fair there's also a high correlation between the pro-vaxxers and those who believed the virus couldn't have possibly escaped from a lab.
Which was the official tune of the media, all synched, hammered for years. Now that tune has changed but that's another story.
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