Q: (Initially posted on 8/19) FROM MENTEE MICHELLE C. OF IL
I've heard some things about Stephen Wolfram's book A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE. It sounded very interesting. I've read a little bit on cellular automaton, but it's not clear to me what exactly cellular automaton is. And how does Wolfram explain science through the language of math? What examples are there? Any good sites online that explains the concept more briefly than the 1000 page book?

August 21, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK. FOR BIO. CLICK HERE.
this site
http://www.math.com/students/wonders/life/life.html explains (among
other interesting things at http://www.math.com/ - that looks like a
fun site for many mathematical recreations) how one cellular
automaton, the Game of Life, works, and lets you play with it. It's
fascinating that seemingly complex behavior can be modeled with
really simple rules - and that fact makes some of us wonder just how
simple the "rules" for human behavior might really be!