Bird flocks soar through the sky like a liquid, atomic orchestra
Researchers from NYU have published a study in 'Physical Review Fluids' explaining how bird flocks and fish schools maintain orderly movement through 'vortex wakes' and spring-like bonds. The study compares these biological formations to soft crystals, where individuals act like atoms in a lattice.
Why it matters
Understanding the mechanics of collective animal behavior provides insights into fluid dynamics and could inspire new approaches in swarm robotics and material science.
Birds fly in flocks, fish swim in schools. What bonds them together, without dispersal or collision? Mathematicians from New York University (NYU) explained the method to the madness: the animals move in tandem, like an orchestra with a maestro leading them. A bird’s flapping wings, for instance, produces “vortex wakes” (or travelling waves) with each guided by others’ wakes, the researchers explained in a new paper published in the journal Physical Review Fluids .
This is a scientific report summarizing academic research without political or social bias.
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