TCthomas.caron
~ / lab / turing-patterns
05·live·2026.05

Turing patterns

Random noise in, stripes and spots out. Gray-Scott reaction-diffusion in your browser.
stack
Gray-Scott · Float32Array · Canvas
kind
visualization
status
live

Two chemicals diffuse and react. The math is nine lines. The patterns aren't preprogrammed: they fall out of the same equation under different (f, k) values. Drag the canvas to seed new chemical. Drag the sliders to wander the parameter plane.

click + drag to paint
f0.0300
feed rate · replenishes u
k0.0620
kill rate · depletes v
pearson regions

Gray-Scott reaction-diffusion. ∂u/∂t = Du·∇²u − uv² + f(1−u). ∂v/∂t = Dv·∇²v + uv² − (f+k)v. Forward Euler at dt=1, periodic boundaries, Du=0.16, Dv=0.08, eight sub-steps per frame on a 256×256 grid. Turing argued in 1952 that this same math explains zebra stripes, leopard spots, fingerprints, and seashell whorls. Biology agreed forty years later.

thesis

Two chemicals diffuse at different rates and react with each other. Two parameters, feed and kill, pick a region of the parameter plane. Watch leopard spots, zebra stripes, and self-replicating cells emerge from a 9-line equation. Drag the canvas to seed; drag the sliders to wander.

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