Phoenix
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A phoenix is a pattern all of whose cells die in every generation, but that never dies as a whole. A spaceship can not be a phoenix, and in fact every finite phoenix eventually evolves into an oscillator. The first discovered phoenix was a period 2 oscillator with 12 cells.
Every known phoenix oscillator has period 2. In January 2000, Stephen Silver showed that a period 3 oscillator can not be a phoenix. The situation for higher periods is unknown.
External links
Phoenix at the Life Lexicon