self-replication
Making oneself again
Self-replication is the process by which something makes copies of itself.
The term appears most often in biology, where cells and organisms reproduce, and in discussions of technology, where self-replicating machines or computer programs can create duplicates without external intervention.
The virus's rapid self-replication overwhelmed the host's immune system.
A self-replicating system contains all the instructions and mechanisms needed to produce new versions of itself.
Nuclear division producing identical cells
- meiosisGamete-producing cell division
- polymeraseNucleic acid synthesis enzyme
- replicaseGenome-duplicating enzyme
- nucleotideGenetic code subunit
genome · chromosome · ribosome · cytokinesis · plasmid · virus · bacteriophage · prion
Defined in terms of itself
- wormLimbless soil invertebrate
- bootloaderInitial startup program
mitosis
Nuclear division producing identical cells
- meiosisGamete-producing cell division
- polymeraseNucleic acid synthesis enzyme
- replicaseGenome-duplicating enzyme
nucleotide · genome · chromosome · ribosome · cytokinesis · plasmid · virus · bacteriophage · prion · telomerase
nanobots
Submicroscopic robotic devices
- bioprintingDepositing living cells mechanically
recursive
Defined in terms of itself
- wormLimbless soil invertebrate
- bootloaderInitial startup program
- Self-referencerecursion, recursive, meta, infinite regress, circular reasoning
- artificial lifeemergence, genotype, phenotype, mutation, selection
- Cellular AutomataGame of Life, glider, oscillator, spaceship, blinker
- life originsabiogenesis, biogenesis, primordial soup, panspermia, origin of life
- RNA worldprebiotic chemistry, primordial soup
- copyingcopying, copy, plagiarism, repeating, duplicating
self-replicationsterility
Absence of microbes or fertility
infertility · barrenness · terminal · dead-end · uniqueness
self-replicationself-destruction
Deliberately causing one's downfall
apoptosis · self-annihilation · extinction · dissolution · decay
self, replicate, self-replicating, replication, selfhood, replicator, replications, replicators