Michael SimkinIndependent researcher · Tbilisi, GeorgiaSearch
The journal / Research

Research.

Mathematical questions and Game of Life discoveries, with a clear distinction between demonstrated patterns and candidate claims.

19 articles from the shared collection
The complete glider assembly, exploded into its initial-state, blue, two orange, purple, and final-state layers.
ResearchExperiment

Conway’s Life in 3D Tiles

Make a Life generation by assembling coloured pieces: six blue, eight orange, eight purple, and four black/white tile types, with illustrated inputs, outputs, and a compact 3D tile set.

Caterloopillar architecture on the left; close views of glider reversal, MWSS insertion beside a passing HWSS, both stream constructors, tape rebuilding, and deletion cycle on the right.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Caterloopillar

How readers, glider routing, close-spaced inserters, and deletion come together in the 2016 Pattern of the Year.

Remini’s original still-life seeds activate into working period-30 circuitry.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Remini

Modern self-construction from retro Life circuitry: how new understanding made an old toolkit do much more.

A complete ping-pong exchange: an amber marker follows the spaceship from the first stream to the second, then the return glider back, with both streams visible.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Switch engine ping-pong

A spaceship-and-glider exchange between two switch engines, with a 23-cell record that stood for over seven years.

ResearchResearch preprint

High-Dimensional Sphere Packing

From a simple question and an AI-directed search to a collaborative preprint on lattice packing in every sufficiently large dimension.

Both ends of Serizawa Geminoid build their next heads while the instruction tape joins them into a moving chain. The animation continues until both new heads have their completed circuitry.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Serizawa Geminoid

One of my first construction results: a smaller, more efficient Geminoid design in Serizawa, following my interest in Andrew Wade’s Gemini.

Both ends of Geminoid Particles build their next heads, then remove old circuitry, while the long instruction tape winds between them.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Geminoid Particles

A custom nine-state cellular automaton for exploring construction and self-destruction.

The original four-cell Serizawa seed evolving into a diamond-shaped pattern of growing particle streams.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Serizawa quadratic growth

Five-cell and later four-cell seeds with quadratic growth, posted in June 2014.

Herschel evolving through B60 over 60 generations.
ResearchDemonstrated result

B60

A three-block Herschel conduit found with CatForce, forming the basis of the Simkin gun.

B-heptomino converted into a glider over 144 generations.
ResearchDemonstrated result

BNE14T30

Tanner Jacobi’s edge shooter, developed from a Bellman result I found earlier in 2015.

B-heptomino evolving through the 46-generation BRx46B conduit.
ResearchDemonstrated result

BRx46B

A 46-generation conduit that carries a B-heptomino directly to another B-heptomino.

Blue printed still-life puzzle tiles held beside a ruler, photographed in June 2016.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Making Still-Life Tiles Physical

Printable puzzle pieces whose connections encode Life’s stability constraints, developed with Paul Callahan and Adam Goucher.

One complete 114-generation cycle of Ocellus.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Ocellus

A period-114 relay oscillator built around a reduced 180-degree reflector.

Animated B3/S23 simulation of the 29-cell Simkin glider gun.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Simkin Glider Gun

The 29-cell gun: the smallest known by live-cell population when two glider output streams are allowed.

One complete 60-generation cycle of Simkin’s p60.
ResearchDemonstrated result

Simkin's p60

A period-60 oscillator formed from two B60 conduits with glider-suppressing eaters.

Later evolution of the original 24-cell seed, generations 4,194,304–16,777,216.
ResearchDemonstrated result

24-cell quadratic growth

A 24-cell breeder discovered between the 25-cell seed and switch engine ping-pong.

Later evolution of the original 25-cell seed, generations 4,194,304–16,777,216.
ResearchDemonstrated result

25-cell quadratic growth

The first of three progressively smaller quadratic-growth seeds I found in October 2014.