This week's featured article
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| Toad is a period-2 oscillator that was found by Simon Norton in May 1970. It is the second most common naturally-occurring oscillator, being more common than beacon, although they occur less than a hundredth as often as blinkers. It is also one of very few known oscillators that is a polyomino in one of its phases. Toads often appear in large, complex patterns because of their ability to eat things when paired together (as in killer toads). Additionally, toads are useful as building blocks for constructing large oscillators with periods that are a multiple of two because of the various ways in which they can be hassled.
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In the news
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Pattern collection
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| The LifeWiki contains one of the most comprehensive catalogues of patterns available on the internet. Within it you will find:
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Did you know...
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- ... that the number of still lifes with N+1 bits is roughly 2.48 times larger than the number of N-bit still lifes?
- ... that the odds of a randomly-chosen 20 × 20 soup pattern being a methuselah that lasts between 1000 N and 1000 (N + 1) ticks, are roughly the same as the odds that it will last any amount of time longer than 1000 (N + 1) ticks?
- ... that all still lifes up to 17 cells can be synthesized at a cost of less than one glider per cell?
- ... that the first elementary knightship, Sir Robin, was discovered only in 2018, with there having been a very close call in 2004?
- ... that there is a 5 × 2 counterexample to the Coolout Conjecture, proving that patterns that are internally compatible with stability can not always be made part of a larger still life, no matter what cells are added around the edges?
- ... that a Conway's Life pattern representing a complete programmable 8-bit computer, consisting only of buckaroos, p60 glider guns, and glider duplicators, was completed in November 2016?
- ... that whilst no elementary oblique spaceships were found in B3/S23 until 2018, and none have occurred naturally, at least two naturally occurring reactions have been discovered in B38/S23 that travel in an oblique direction?
- ... that not all 1.00 volatility oscillators are phoenixes, but volatility 1.00 period 2 oscillators must be phoenixes?
- ... that no pattern inside a 6 × 6 bounding box is a Garden of Eden?
- ... that Garden of Eden patterns with only 45 ON cells have been found?
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