Butanalogy can also operate in mutual alignment1 analogies to reveal commonalities thatwere previously not obvious in either analog.

Projecting information from a well-understood domain can lend structure to an unfamiliar domain, as in:The mitochondria are the power supply for a cell.

Analogy is often thought of chiefly as a way to transfer knowledge from one situationto another, and indeed, it often serves that function.