nature | Still in print, On Growth and Form was more than a decade in
the planning. Thompson would regularly tell colleagues and students — he
taught at what is now the University of Dundee, hence the local media
interest — about his big idea before he wrote it all down. In part, he
was reacting against one of the biggest ideas in scientific history.
Thompson used his book to argue that Charles Darwin’s natural selection
was not the only major influence on the origin and development of
species and their unique forms: “In general no organic forms exist save
such as are in conformity with physical and mathematical laws.”
Biological response to physical forces remains a live topic for research. In a research paper,
for example, researchers report how physical stresses generated at
defects in the structures of epithelial cell layers cause excess cells
to be extruded.
In a separate online publication (K. Kawaguchi et al. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature22321; 2017),
other scientists show that topological defects have a role in cell
dynamics, as a result of the balance of forces. In high-density cultures
of neural progenitor cells, the direction in which cells travel around
defects affects whether cells become more densely packed (leading to
pile-ups) or spread out (leading to a cellular fast-lane where travel
speeds up).
A Technology Feature
investigates in depth the innovative methods developed to detect and
measure forces generated by cells and proteins. Such techniques help
researchers to understand how force is translated into biological
function.
Thompson’s influence also flourishes in other active areas of interdisciplinary research. A research paper offers a mathematical explanation for the colour changes that appear in the scales of ocellated lizards (Timon lepidus)
during development (also featured on this week’s cover). It suggests
that the patterns are generated by a system called a hexagonal cellular
automaton, and that such a discrete system can emerge from the
continuous reaction-diffusion framework developed by mathematician Alan
Turing to explain the distinctive patterning on animals, such as spots
and stripes. (Some of the research findings are explored in detail in the News and Views section.) To complete the link to Thompson, Turing cited On Growth and Form in his original work on reaction-diffusion theory in living systems.
Finally, we have also prepared an online collection of research and comment from Nature and the Nature research journals in support of the centenary, some of which we have made freely available to view for one month.
