Turing Model

Fuzzy patterns were just what resulted when chemical and biological engineer Ankur Gupta at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his then research assistant Ben Alessio tried to simulate hexagonal patterns in a computer Turing model. 

They were nothing like what nature produces. But the scientists found a solution in a concept called diffusiophoresis, in which small molecules push or pull bigger ones; it’s how small soap molecules yank big bits of dirt from your clothes in the washing machine. 

When the researchers added diffusiophoresis to their models, the patterns looked a lot more like the boxfish’s scales, though they were still far from perfect.

The researchers suspect that some small Turing morphogen is dragging the fish’s pigment cells into place, and that the fish uses other patterning methods, too. “Absolutely, there are other factors that might be at play,” says Gupta.