Congratulations! after 120 hours of eating, you’ve made it past the larval stages and are now encapsulated in the puparium!

The metamorphosis process can now start and tissues begin developing from the imaginal discs into adult proportions. This process is triggered by a sudden release of hormones.

The larval structures that are no longer needed are degraded in a process called apolysis. You can now even float above water (in case it’s a rainy day).

Computing

Alan Turing

Alan Turing studied at Christs College from 1931-1934. He is most well known for breaking the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park during World War II, but did you know he also had a huge impact on biology too?

In his ‘Theory of Morphogenesis’, Turing predicted that developmental patterning is controlled by the concentration of certain chemicals/substances called morphogens. The Theory of Morphogenesis still underlies how we understand a lot of developmental processes today.

Computing in Biology

A big part of modern biology research involves two of Turing’s major scientific interests: artificial intelligence and mathematical biology. Scientists at the Gurdon Institute perform experiments and then try to synthesize the collected data into mathematical models.

These models can be used to describe and predict the patterns that emerge during the development of tissues and organs in embryos.

Artificial intelligence techniques are often essential in making these models and can be inspired by a range of ideas underlying physics and mathematics such as topological quantum field theories and group theory.

  • At a church along this fair parade,

    You can climb the steeple and see the cityscape.

    A great lady saint gives it it’s name,

    Tell us what it is to continue the game!

  • What ladies name does the church opposite Kings College have? ‘Great Saint ….?”

*Remember to start your answer with a Capital letter.

Answer

“We can see only a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”

— Alan Turing from ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’, 1950.