A new variety of cellular automata from Jeff Heaton. His original paper describing MergeLife is here, but he also made the following video that clearly explains how the rules work.
Jeff’s MergLife page also has more info and examples you can run online.
MergeLife is now included with Visions of Chaos. I haven’t added the genetic mutations yet, but you can repeatedly click the random and mutate buttons and see what new patterns emerge.
Jason.
Softology's Blog 