“…Since we are interested in observing spatial pattern formation as well as temporal oscillation in calcium oscillators, we sought an indicator that makes the oscillations in [Ca 2+ ] visible. Examples of such pattern formation include traveling spiral waves 7 and stationary Turing structures 8 in the BelousovZhabotinsky (BZ) and chlorite-iodide-malonic acid (CIMA) chemical systems, respectively, and Ca 2+ spiral waves observed in developing frog oocytes. 9 Periodic changes in color may occur in a chemical oscillator as a result of formation of a colored intermediate (e.g., in many uncatalyzed bromate oscillators 10 ), generation of a colored complex acting as a catalyst (e.g., ferroin in the BZ oscillator 11 ), or the use of indicators for an oscillating species (e.g., starch for iodine in the CIMA reaction 8 ).…”