It's Alive! Artificial-Life Worm Wiggles on Its Own

It's a process as old as time, but there's a twist: This worm is a bit of open-source software that encodes biological data gleaned from decades of scientific study into the nematode C. elegans. The parameters are programmed, but the worm acted on its own. Well, the widely studied nematode was the first multicellular organism to have its entire genome mapped. With just 1,031 cells and 302 neurons, the 1 millimeter-long transparent worm is a manageable animal to recreate as a software-based artificial life form. The simple life form nevertheless moves, mates, eats and even socializes, and replicating it using computer code may yield some biological insights into the biological bases for those behaviors.