Andrew Krause - Pattern Forming Snake

James Murray's Mathematical Biology textbook discussed a model of cell movement (chemotaxis) plausibly underlying the formation of patterns on the skin of snakes. In the embryonic stage when these patterns form, the snakes are already coiled. The book states, "Although it would be more realistic to study the model mechanism on the surface of a coiled cylindrical domain the numerical simulation difficulties were already considerable even on a plane domain."

This is such a simulation not feasible in the 1980s. Rather than stationary patterns, we see continuous movement of cells. It took about an hour of computing in 2021.
 

Andrew Krause is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Mathematical Institute.