What is this post about? This post will cover an overview of pattern formation, specifically Turing pattern formation in a non-mathematical way. The whole point here is to appreciate the beauty of what can Turing's reaction-diffusion model describe. If you are excited enough about the topic and want to cover some technicalities, a subsequent post will cover my Master's thesis work on the design of genetic circuits from first principles that makes use of Turing's reaction-diffusion model. Pattern formation in Biology It is best to start by explaining pattern formation in biology. The easiest and most obvious way to see patterns is within animals. Zebras; fish; cheetahs are some of the few animal examples that exhibit pigment patterns on their skin [1]. If you accept the fact that pigments are no more than proteins expressed within a group of cells [2], one can reasonably ask the question: How can cells determine their relative position to other cells so they end up ex