Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
Math

First Self-Replicating Creature Spawned In Conway's Game of Life 241

Calopteryx writes "New Scientist has a story on a self-replicating entity which inhabits the mathematical universe known as the Game of Life. 'Dubbed Gemini, [Andrew Wade's] creature is made of two sets of identical structures, which sit at either end of the instruction tape. Each is a fraction of the size of the tape's length but, made up of two constructor arms and one "destructor," play a key role. Gemini's initial state contains three of these structures, plus a fourth that is incomplete. As the simulation progresses the incomplete structure begins to grow, while the structure at the start of the tape is demolished. The original Gemini continues to disassemble as the new one emerges, until after nearly 34 million generations, new life is born.'"

Comment Re:"Serenity" has a vocal but minority following (Score 1) 710

I liked the FireFly series very much. I never even heard of it until I signed it out of our local library. I was instantly hooked, but not because I thought it was an "amazing" sci-fi. I liked it because it was a good show with out all the flash. The language was mostly clean and humorous without being over corny. The set was very good and the country western twist on a space sci-fi was a nice touch. I still laugh when I hear the banjo kick in on the opening music. It just doesn't fit, but it's oh so cool.

Unfortunately, my discovery of a new show was short lived when I discovered that the show was already canceled (yes, I must live in a closet). I bought the series anyway. The one thing I find interesting is that I'm the only one who likes it. My wife just can't get into it. My dad, who likes westerns and some sci-fi didn't care for it, and most other people I show it too just smile and say that's nice. So nearest I can tell, the FireFly fan must be a very select individual. Myself, I like it because it's a clean show. And no, I'm not religious, I just don't like all the trash on TV these days.

I've yet to watch Serenity. I remember it on sale once for $10. I'm waiting to see if I can snag it on sale again. As a stand alone movie, I probably wouldn't buy it, but since I have the series, I feel I need the movie to complete the set. I'm still looking for closure :)

Slashdot Top Deals

I don't have any use for bodyguards, but I do have a specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants. -- Elvis Presley

Working...