Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory

A few days ago, ScienceDaily published an article York Scientists Warn Of Dramatic Impact Of Climate Change On Africa, which reports the use of a genetic algorithm to study the response of plants to climate change and fill in gaps in data.

Because of a scarcity of hard data, the team used a computer programme written by Dr Colin McClean, of York’s Environment Department to study the response of plants to climate change.

Dr Lovett added: “We needed a method that would help fill in gaps in knowledge. The technique we used is called a genetic algorithm because it works in a similar way to the effect of evolution on chromosomes - the programme combines different variables in lots of different ways and the bad fits are knocked out, leaving the best solutions.”

More can be found here.