LifeWiki:Did you know

This page is for organizing the "did you know..." box that appears on the LifeWiki main page.

Instructions

1. Add new items at the first red link in the section below.
2. Update the main page (or ask an administrator to update the main page) so that {{LifeWiki:Did you know|total=12|show=9}} has the "total" parameter equal to the number of non-empty subpages. The "show" parameter must not be more than 20.

If you have any difficulty, problems or questions relating to the technical side of this sub-page, ask at the LifeWiki:Did you know talk page.

Current DYKs

Did you know...

1. LifeWiki:Did you know/1: ... that the caterpillar contains over 11 million cells, the 0E0P metacell contains over 18 million cells and the unnamed (34,7)c/156 spaceship contains over 25 million cells?
2. LifeWiki:Did you know/2: ... that the Gosper glider gun was the first pattern to be discovered that exhibits infinite growth?
3. LifeWiki:Did you know/3: ... that the block-laying switch engine and the glider-producing switch engine (and various combinations of two switch engines) are the only infinitely-growing patterns that are known to have ever occurred naturally from an asymmetric random starting configuration?
4. LifeWiki:Did you know/4: ... that it wasn't until 2023 that Conway's Game of Life was proven to be omniperiodic?
5. LifeWiki:Did you know/5: ... that the pentadecathlon and the blinker are the only known oscillators that are polyominoes in more than one phase?
6. LifeWiki:Did you know/6: ... that it is impossible for any finite oscillator to be a phoenix with any period other than 2?
7. LifeWiki:Did you know/7: ... that the 16 × 16 soup with the longest known lifespan lasts for over 52,000 generations before stabilizing?
8. LifeWiki:Did you know/8: ... that replicators with quadratic population growth have been known to exist in Conway's Game of Life since the early 1970s, but none were found until 2018 when Adam P. Goucher constructed the 0E0P metacell?
9. LifeWiki:Did you know/9: ... that the first known p23 oscillator was not found until 2019, the first known p38 oscillator was not found until 2022, and the first p19 and p41 oscillators were not found until 2023?
10. LifeWiki:Did you know/10: ... that a pattern whose population grows without bound but does not tend to infinity is known as a sawtooth?
11. LifeWiki:Did you know/11: ... that there are over 35.4 billion distinct strict still lifes with 34 or fewer cells?
12. LifeWiki:Did you know/12: ... that some infinitely-growing patterns can be constructed with as few as three gliders?
13. LifeWiki:Did you know/13: ... that quadratically-growing patterns have been found with as few as 20 initial cells?
14. LifeWiki:Did you know/14: ... that the blinker is the only known finite oscillator that is one cell thick?
15. LifeWiki:Did you know/15: ... that Gemini, the first spaceship found in Conway's Game of Life that travels in an oblique direction, was discovered in 2010?
16. LifeWiki:Did you know/16: ... that there are still lifes (such as the quad pseudo still life) that can be split into four stable islands, but not two or three?
17. LifeWiki:Did you know/17: ... that no new spaceship speeds were discovered between 1970 and 1989?

See also

• LifeWiki:Did you know archive