The game of life or cellular automata starts with simple rules yet complexity emerges, including chaotic behavior and rigid structures. These systems provide insight into the behavior of complex systems, and can even simulate any computer.
Stephen Wolfram discusses his life-long project of creating computational language that serves as a bridge between the vast possibility in the computational universe and what humans are able to conceptualize, including applications in molecular biology and potentially communicating with alien intelligence.
This podcast explores the scientific study and theoretical barriers of inheritance of memory or acquired traits in mammals and humans, known as the Wiseman barrier, which separates the soma from the germline. It also discusses Weizmann's belief that direct influence of the environment on germ cells could transfer to the next generation despite the theoretical problems.
Cells can enlarge to the point where one single cell can wrap around itself to create a tubule using the cytoskeleton, whereas typically cells communicate with one another to make tubules. Early cell division can be manipulated to make cells much bigger, leading to bigger tubules.
Slime mold cells move along the ground by expanding and contracting the cytoplasm, while at the top of the stalk, many slime mold cells called slugs, move using little feet-like appendages.