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Biological Cellular Automata Laboratory

Author(s): 
John Jungck, Jennifer Spangenberg

From the Biological ESTEEM collection

ESTEEM Category

Developmental Biology

Description

This module includes both linear cellular automata and 2D cellular automata. For linear CA, users can choose from a set of popular rules or define their own. For 2D CA, examples of a toroidal, cylindrical, and walled spatial configurations are presented, with a library of preset patterns and the ability to customize patterns. The original three rules for survival, death, and birth are implemented in this module, but users with some Excel® knowledge can implement variations on these rules. Cellular automata have been extensively used in biology to model the development of pigmentation in textile cone shells, the spread of forest fires, and epidemics, for example.

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John Jungck, Jennifer Spangenberg, "Biological Cellular Automata Laboratory," Convergence (December 2006)