This page discusses the behavior of a simulated evolution system by Michael Palmiter I first encountered in the 1989 Scientific American column "Computer Recreations", by A. K. Dewdney. I played with the code for this a number of times over the years and eventually produced some data analysis tools for examining the course of the simulated populations over time.

It was an interesting system to write and proved to be a good learning experience as I improved it over the years. I still find it amusing to set it running from time to time.

This page discusses the behavior or a simple pattern generation model which captures much of the behavior of a reaction-diffusion system without the computational overhead of solving discrete differential equations.

I've explored some aspects of the system, but there plenty that can still be done with it.

The model is mentioned once in Wolfram's big book, but he does not cite who originally developed it. I began work on this model years before Wolfram's big book came out, starting from a vague description in some unknown article. I remember the model as, "Young's model", but have been able to find no evidence for this in later searches.

Here I discuss the maths needed to calculate new fold lines in origami. The mathematical model begins with generalized definitions of points and lines, then applies origami axioms to find new points and lines. Because I was writing this into a computer simulation while I was deriving the math, I have made efforts to explain how the math can be rendered into a form usable in a general programming environment.

Primarily the axioms are based on the work of Huzita and others. The final two discussed are not commonly recognized, but were necessary to make the work complete.

This project began as an attempt to write detailed instructions for folding origami models. My background in computer programming led me to develop a structured language to describe the features of the paper, the folding process, and the new features created during folding.

The language is limited to 2D models and still needs work to be entirely unambiguous. I'm writing a compiler to translate the written script into images similar to those found in a standard origami diagram.

Development of the language usually is pushed forward when a problem comes up in the programming. Computers do not deal well with ambiguity.

This is an origami simulation which uses the origami maths and descriptive language mentioned above. The goal is for the automated production of origami diagrams from a description. The maths explored earlier are fundamental to the simulation, but are not sufficient to produce useful results. I have developed and continue to develop algorithms to effectively simulate the folding of a piece of paper.

I don't have a proper writeup for this project yet, but the page has some examples of what the simulation can do so far.

My first academic paper. By, 'my', I mean my name is one it... as the fifth author. I did some of the flow cytometry used to examine the impact of of a mutation on cell cycle progression. It was only later that I realized the work was kinda cool.

My first real (second-author) academic paper. For this work I did a lot of data analysis and statistics, providing insights which seemed helpful in writing the paper. This is a pretty cool piece of work showing how different stresses increase mutation rates differently. This is the first time this has been shown in a Eukaryote.

My first, first-author paper! (Details to follow once it is in print.)