Heterogeneity for Flocking and Computation: From Biology to Mathematics (opens in new tab)

Arthur Montanari, Ana Elisa Barioni, and Adilson Motter In a murmuration of starlings, abrupt evasive maneuvers from a few birds in response to a passing falcon can trigger a collective response across the whole group. Within a fraction of a second, local turns are amplified through thousands of neighboring interactions between birds, and the entire flock twists and folds as if it were a single organism. During the annual northbound migration of sardines along the coast of South Africa, dense...