Virtual/Actual

[I'm having a hard time figuring out the significance of this--mostly because I know very little about the history of self-replication in the Game of Life. Is this more or less important than the self-replicating synthetic DNA cell? Either way, I'm glad to know that semi-important breakthroughs in self-replication are happening in both the virtual and the actual spheres.]

“New Scientist has a story on a self-replicating entity which inhabits the mathematical universe known as the Game of Life. ‘Dubbed Gemini, [Andrew Wade's] creature is made of two sets of identical structures, which sit at either end of the instruction tape. Each is a fraction of the size of the tape’s length but, made up of two constructor arms and one “destructor,” play a key role. Gemini’s initial state contains three of these structures, plus a fourth that is incomplete. As the simulation progresses the incomplete structure begins to grow, while the structure at the start of the tape is demolished. The original Gemini continues to disassemble as the new one emerges, until after nearly 34 million generations, new life is born.’”

via Slashdot