Artificial life is an emerging informatics-based discipline that models the behavior of biological systems such as evolution, reproduction, growth, disease, learning, socialisation and even death
The adage that 'life is what you make of it' has special meaning for scientists who will gather here for an international conference sponsored by the Indiana University School of Informatics.
The school is hosting the 10th International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems - better known among its practitioners as Artificial Life X - on 3-7 June 2006, on the IU campus.
The gathering brings together some of the world's top experts in informatics and biology to discuss the latest achievements and challenges in artificial life research.
Artificial life is an emerging informatics-based discipline that models the behavior of biological systems such as evolution, reproduction, growth, disease, learning, socialisation and even death.
It also applies biological principles to produce novel technology designs for computer hardware and software, robots, spacecraft and aviation, medicine, nanotechnology, industrial fabrication and assembly, and other engineering specialties.
"A Life X marks two decades of research in this scientific community, a period underscored by vast advances in both the life sciences and information technology," says Luis Rocha, associate professor of informatics and of cognitive science, who chairs the conference's organising committee.
The goal of artificial life is to uncover the fundamental principles of life via the synthesis of life-like processes in computers and other artificial media.
Of particular interest are general principles of organisation such as natural selection, self-organisation, self-reproduction, learning, and collective behavior, all of which play a role in evolution, development, immune defense, intelligence and social organisation.
"Indiana University and its School of Informatics in Bloomington are home to substantial research and education, involving faculty in informatics, computer science, cognitive science, physics and other disciplines who have interests in artificial life issues," says Rocha.
