How Does Life Unfold? A Landscape Metaphor Comes Into Its Own.

Waddington’s powerful image of embryonic stem cells specializing on a rolling landscape has captivated biologists since the 1950s.

The short version

• Experimental data is finally confirming, and complicating, his visionary ideas.
• A Landscape Metaphor Comes Into Its Own. first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
• An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.

What happened

Create a reading list by clicking the Read Later icon next to the articles you wish to save. In this update to Waddington’s image, a ball (representing a cell lineage) multiplies and specializes into cell types (represented by color) as it traverses a dynamic landscape.

Why it matters

This animation was generated from Waddington’s original drawing using an AI tool.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine via the links above and below.