Representative fluorescent image of a stochastic Turing pattern of signalling molecules in a biofilm of forward-engineered E. coli cells. The field of view is about 300 microns across. Right: Computer ...

A mixture of two types of pigment-producing cells undergoes diffusiophoretic transport to self-assemble into a hexagonal pattern. Credit: Siamak Mirfendereski and Ankur Gupta/CU Boulder A zebra’s ...

For many decades now, scientists and biologists have been trying to understand how the mesmerising patterns in animal coats emerge from a group of underdeveloped cells. The British mathematician Alan ...

The mechanism behind leopard spots and zebra stripes also appears to explain the patterned growth of a bismuth crystal, extending Alan Turing’s 1952 idea to the atomic scale. The stripes looked like a ...