This additional dimension, which arises from optimizing network performance, leads to organisms’ functioning as if they are operating in four dimensions. This is the geometric origin of the quarter power. Thus, instead of scaling with classic ⅓ exponents, as would be the case if they were smooth nonfractal Euclidean objects, they scale with ¼ exponents. Although living things occupy a three-dimensional space, their internal physiology and anatomy operate as if they were four-dimensional.
