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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

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By Brandon Keim

February 22, 2011 | 7:00 am | Categories: Biology

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Near the end of his life, the great mathematician Alan Turing wrote his first and last paper on biology and chemistry, about how a certain type of chemical reaction ought to produce many patterns seen in nature. Called "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis," it was an entirely theoretical work. But in following decades, long after Turing tragically took his own life in 1954, scientists found his speculations to be reality. First found in chemicals in dishes, then in the stripes and spirals and whorls of animals, so-called Turing patterns abounded. Some think that Turing patterns may actually extend to ecosystems, even to galaxies. That's still speculation but a proof published Feb. 11 in Science of Turing patterns in a controlled three-dimensional chemical system are even more suggestion of just how complex the patterns can be. On the following pages, Wired.com takes you on a Turing pattern tour. Images: Left: Alan Turing. (Ohio State University) Right: Patterns generated by a computer simulation of the Turing model. each is made by the same basic equation, with its parameters slightly tweaked. (Shigeru Kondo & Takashi Miura/Science)

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

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At the heart of any Turing pattern is a so-called reaction-diffusion system. It consists of an "activator," a chemical that can make more of itself; an "inhibitor," that slows production of the activator; and a mechanism for diffusing the chemicals. Many combinations of chemicals can fit this system: What matters isn't their individual identity, but how they interact, with concentrations oscillating between high and low and spreading across an area. These simple units then suffice to produce very complex patterns. "In principle, the behavior is generic. The trick is that you have to have the right rates for the chemical reactions, the right diffusion rates of reacting species," said Irving Epstein, a Brandeis University chemist who studies pattern formation. Image: A schematic comparison of the reaction-diffusion model to what's known as the morphogen-gradient model, which is essentially a reaction-diffusion system with two non-interacting chemicals. (S. Miyazama/Science)

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Even though what appeared to be Turing patterns were immediately evident in nature, it wasn't easy to be sure they were produced by reaction-diffusion systems, rather than some other mechanism. "It may occur all the time in living systems, but it's hard to definitively show," said Esptein. "You have to identify the activator and the inhibitor, and then to establish certain relationships among the reactions they undergo. In biological systems, it turns out to be quite difficult to unambiguously follow the concentrations." The breakthrough came during the 1980s, when chemists were able to produce Turing patterns in the laboratory, on thin slabs of gel. In these controlled systems, the reactions could be closely followed, simulated on computers and unambiguously demonstrated as true Turing patterns. Image: Patterns in gel, circa 1992. (Dennis Vigil & Harry Swinney/University of Texas, Austin)

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

With the patterns definitively demonstrated with bench-top chemistry, researchers could turn their attention to nature. At left in each photograph is a real seashell. At right is a computer-generated image of a pattern produced by a Turing pattern simulation. Image: Seashells from Bishougai-HP; simulations from H. Meinhardt/Science.

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

At left in each photograph is the eye of a popper fish. At right is a computer-generated image of a pattern generated by a Turing pattern simulation. Like the seashells, this doesn't prove that the natural markings are Turing patterns of pigments. They could theoretically be produced by some other type of chemical reaction, and just happen to look like Turing patterns. To be more certain, scientists needed to work with the patterns in living animals the biological equivalents of chemistry sets.

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Image: Fish by Massimo Boyer; simulations from H. Meinhardt.

A basic model organism is the zebra fish. By raising them in captivity, tweaking genes or growth conditions, and then seeing what happens, researchers use zebra fish to study how animals develop and function. Fortunately for researchers studying pattern formation, the markings on zebra fish which develop from a few juvenile spots, to intricate adult motifs appeared to fit the Turing model. In 2008, biologists Akiko Nakamasu and Shigeru Kondo of Japan's Nagoya University used lasers to scar the spots of juveniles in different ways, then

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

watched how their markings developed. These living patterns evolved precisely as computer simulations predicted they would, proving their Turing pattern nature. Image: In the leftmost two columns are photographs of juvenile and adult zebra fish markings. In the other columns are Turing pattern simulations, developing over time. (Kondo and Nakamasu/Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Spots on the coats of jaguars and leopards are thought to be Turing patterns -- but given the near-impossibility of working with these animals in controlled conditions, this hypothesis will probably remain extremely likely but not conclusively tested. Image: Tambako the Jaguar/Flickr

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

That markings on animals are produced by Turing systems of pigments is now generally accepted, but the origin of what appear to be Turing patterns in more complex settings such as limb and tooth and lung development is still debated. A basic step towards proving the existence of these three-dimensional Turing patterns is demonstrating a three-dimensional pattern in the lab. In a paper published Feb. 11 in Science, researchers led by Brandeis University chemist Irving Epstein do precisely this. The researchers set off a chemical reaction that creates Turing patterns in laboratory flasks, then used tomography a form of imaging used to reconstruct three-dimensional images from thousands of two-dimensional snapshots to picture them. "It's an intellectual coup," said Epstein. Image: Science

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Turing patterns can involve not just chemicals, but large, complex systems in which each unit for example, a cell is distributed like molecules of pigment. Pictured is a Turing pattern of cells in Dictyostelium, or a slime mold. Image: National Institutes of Health

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Once one starts to look, there seems to be no end to Turing patterns: their forms can be seen in weather systems, the distribution of vegetation across landscapes and even the constellations of galaxies.

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Image: Galaxy N51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. (European Space Agency)

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See Also: Searching for Network Laws in Slime Hidden Fractals Suggest Answer to Ancient Math Problem Earths Most Stunning Natural Fractal Patterns Video: Mysterious Patterns Reveal Self-Organizing Muscle Fibers Baffling Patterns Form in Scientific Sandbox

Brandon is a Wired Science reporter and freelance journalist. Based in Brooklyn, New York and Bangor, Maine, he's fascinated with science, culture, history and nature. Follow @9brandon on Twitter. Tags: alan turing, Chemistry, Complexity, Math, patterns, Space Post Comment | Permalink Also on Wired.com General: Army's Future Info Network Is 'Tremendous' Microsoft Will Release Kinect SDK for Windows

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

Real-time updating is enabled. (Pause)

Not to steal Turing's thunder, but this is essentially fractal patterns, no? Benoit Mandlebrot probably published similar work around the same time as Turing on this subject. Both are geniuses, no doubt, and Turing's brilliance also extends to computer science.

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@DokS Both are indeed geniuses although Turing was first in discovering this non linear system behavior before Benoit did. Benoit however was the one given wide spread recognition to non linear systems. Also there is a gap of difference how Turing found and apply his approach to these pattern then Benoit. Benoit did a more mathematical approach beautifully , we're Turing morphogenesis meaning "generation of form" described an chemical mechanism called reaction-diffusion model. The beauty of Turing way of building those pattern lies in what you can make of the reaction-diffusion process Turing has his cue eventually from somewhere. A cell forms into tissue , shell and bone , leaf etc. It all depends on the force that play's out on formation just as generating a number sequence there are endless possibility's to this model. The way I look at Turings model just like what I've seen in Tron Legacy where the appearance of isomorphic programs left an unsuspected effect of what the system was truly capable of. I could go on forever about this subject I'm inspired to leave this into my next blogpost.

Awesome! This observational/discovery phase is wonderful and fun and exciting! I love it! For whatever reason i immediately start asking the question of, how can this be applied and used in some way. I am not talking from a, lets make money off of this, but how can identifying/understanding turing patterns be applied in beneficial ways? Any thoughts/info on this is appreciated.

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Alan Turings Patterns in Nature, and Beyond | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/turing-patterns/?pid=978&viewall=true

The observational/discovery phase is my favorite, too. Where I'm most excited about possible applications is in ecosystems. Imagine a region where biodiversity is highest when vegetation patterns are just so, and those patterns are Turing patterns. If one could determine the activator and inhibitor -- maybe they're different plant species, or a plant and an animal -- and all the other parts of the equation, it could be a powerful tool for predicting and managing the future.

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I totally agree with you guys, very interesting stuff. What stuck out for me was the last section where it mentions that these patterns can be seen in weather. We are getting better at predicting weather, but think of how cool it would be to have the weathermen be accurate more of the time, and for a longer time frame into the future. Maybe that sticks out in my head because I really don't know anything about predicting weather, haha. I would have no idea how to apply this to weather, or even what factors they'd be looking for, other than the obvious - temp, humidity, pressure, etc...

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