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 3 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.

Game of Life

Gardner, M. 1970. MATHEMATICAL GAMES: The fantastic combinations of John Conway's new solitaire game "life". Scientific American 223:120-123

Wolfram, S. 2002. A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media.

Adamatzky, A. 1995. Identification of Cellular Automata. CRC.

Wolfram, S. 1994. Cellular Automata and Complexity. Perseus Books Group.

Bentley, P. J. 2002. Digital Biology. Simon & Schuster.

Poundstone, W. 1985. The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge. Contemporary Books.

Gardner, M. "The Game of Life, Parts I-III." Chs. 20-22 in Wheels, Life, and other Mathematical Amusements. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1983.

Meinhardt, H. 2003. The Algorithmic Beauty of Sea Shells. Springer-Verlag.

Jimenez-Morales F., Crutchfield J. P. and Mitchell M. 2001. Evolving two-dimensional cellular automata to perform density classification: A report on work in progress. Parallel Computing 27:571-585.

Guy, R. K. 1982. John Horton Conway: Mathematical Magus. The Two-Year College Mathematics Journal 13:290-299.

Shmulevich, I.; Dougherty, E. R.; Zhang, W. 2002. Control of stationary behavior in probabilistic Boolean networks by means of structural intervention. Journal of Biological Systems 10:431-445.

Kerr, B.; Neuhauser, C.; Bohannan, B. J. M.; Dean, A. M. 2006. Local Migration promotes competitive restraint in a host-pathogen ‘tragedy of the commons.’ Nature 442:75-78.

Eric Weisstein’s Treasure Trove of the Life Cellular Automaton.

Weisstein, Eric W. "Life." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.

Cellular Automata FAQ, Tim Tyler.

David Griffeath's Primordial Soup Kitchen

Patterns, Programs, and Links for Conway's Game of Life, Paul Callahan.

Cellular Automata Laboratory, Rudy Rucker and John Walker.