Hood Canal blooms occur in part because of warm weather and the slow turnover of water in the southern end of the canal, causing the build-up of nutrients from fertilizers and leaky septic systems. Organic matter, brought in by ocean water and certain trees, could additionally be contributing to the high nitrogen levels in the basin. Excess nutrients and organic matter causes a body of water to lose oxygen, through a process called eutrophication. In Hood Canal, eutrophication has led to unwanted algae blooms. Nitrogen combined with sunlight triggers algal growth. A lack of sufficient consumers has resulted in a mass overgrowth
Natural computing understand the essential properties of life organisms by building, within electronic computers or other artificial media, "ab initio" systems that exhibit properties normally associated only with living organisms. Early examples include Lindenmayer systems (L-systems), that have been used to model plant growth and development. An L-system is a parallel rewriting system that starts with an initial word, and applies its rewriting rules in parallel to all letters of the word. Pioneering experiments in artificial life included the design of evolving "virtual block creatures" acting in simulated environments with realistic features such as kinetics, dynamics, gravity, collision, and friction. These artificial