Turing Equation Explains how Leopard Spots Develop

BilZ0r writes "A slight modification of an equation developed by Alan Turing in 1952 has been used to show how the patterns of big cats change from kitten to adult markings. Sy-Sang Liaw of National Chung-Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan, and colleagues set out to replicate these patterns using Turing's equations. But they found they had to do more than just tweak the parameters of the reaction-diffusion equation. Instead they had to assume two stages of spot growth with different rules: the first to get the baby cats their spots, and the second to create the final configurations. It took them a year to find a final solution."

Comments

Not OS X 10.5?

[nlogax]

Damn, i thought "Spots" was some sweet new feature in OS X Leopard.

Turing test

[Anonymous Coward]

So how many questions were the leopard spots able to answer?

Ohwait...

New Adage

[DumbSwede]

... no more than a Leopard can change his Turing Equations

Re:Leopard spots, snail shells, and Leonardo of Pi

[ceoyoyo]

I really hope you don't think freckles on, or redheads in general are boring. They're nothing like leopards either.