Cellular Automata
In part one of this series, we looked at a simple example of cellular automata in the form of the Game of Life.
View seriesWelcome to adaptive-emergent
Software, Rewilded.
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Act I Part 2: The Self-Replicating Machine
In part one of this series, we looked at a simple example of cellular automata in the form of the Game of Life. But these constructs existed before Conway in 1970. Software has been able to reproduce itself for decades. In 1988, the Morris worm spread autonomously through about 6,000 of the roughly 60,000 computers then connected to the Internet, causing widespread disruption.
27-Sep-2026
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Quorum Sensing
Part 4: The dangling conversation In the previous article, we saw bacterial populations defend themselves collectively. Cyanobacteria formed protective flocs, while dying E.
View seriesAlgorithms on Display
(See the original demos announcement at the link). We have added more algorithms to the website to try out and tweak.
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Act I Part 2: The Self-Replicating Machine
In part one of this series, we looked at a simple example of cellular automata in the form of the Game of Life. But these constructs existed before Conway in 1970. Software has been able to reproduce itself for decades. In 1988, the Morris worm spread autonomously through about 6,000 of the roughly 60,000 computers then connected to the Internet, causing widespread disruption.
27-Sep-2026
Read moreSelf-propelled cells create collective patterns that ordinary matter cannot
Swarming bacteria and human tissue cells spontaneously create large-scale flow patterns whose dynamics cannot be explained by conventional passive-matter physics.
26-Sep-2026
Read moreFire ant colonies build, navigate and even learn without a leader
Fire ants demonstrate several distinct ways that useful group-level behaviour can emerge from decentralised interactions.
26-Sep-2026
Read moreCollective intelligence can become an echo chamber when agents see actions but not evidence
Simple information constraints can push biological collectives into self-reinforcing consensus that becomes detached from the outside world.
25-Sep-2026
Read moreThe gut microbiome runs several communication networks at once
Gut bacteria coordinate through multiple overlapping communication channels rather than relying on a single signalling mechanism.
24-Sep-2026
Read moreGlassfish turn a neighbour's disappearance into a distributed danger signal
Schooling glassfish can infer danger from the behaviour of nearby fish even when they never see the threat themselves.
24-Sep-2026
Read moreCockatoo culture spreads useful behaviour through a city-scale social network
Just two of Sydney’s sulphur-crested cockatoos spread the word to all its mates (and theirs).
24-Sep-2026
Read moreHow a fish school decides an alarm is real — and when it is safe again
Humbug damselfish offer researchers a natural system for studying how threat information propagates through a group without every fish independently detecting the danger.
22-Sep-2026
Read moreArmy ants enforce traffic safety without a traffic controller
Social insects provide concrete examples of collectives enforcing system-level constraints through local behaviour even when no individual can measure the state of the whole group.
22-Sep-2026
Read moreAn autonomous drone swarm forms a moving three-dimensional defensive wall
A field demonstration has used a coordinated autonomous drone swarm to intercept another swarm by forming a three-dimensional barrier in its path.
22-Sep-2026
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