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About the cover image: Cells collectively spelling “ENTROPY” with varying orderliness. Maire and Youk (Cell Systems - Nov. 2015) formally define the degree of autonomy or collectiveness in cell behavior. Highly collective cells (beads of same color) form ordered patterns (e.g., the letter “E”). Highly autonomous cells (beads of different colors) form disordered patterns (e.g., the letter “Y”). The spectrum of behaviors between purely autonomous and purely collective can be described quantitatively by calculating the “entropy of population,” a measure of the population's ability to be disordered. Here, the entropy of each letter's population is represented by its height. Image by Núria Taberner. |