Murmuration of birds is an amazing sight - a swooping mass of thousands of birds whirling in the sky above your head.
Starling flocks, it turns out, are best described with equations of “critical transitions” — systems that are poised to tip, to be almost instantly and completely transformed, like metals becoming magnetized or liquid turning to gas. Each starling in a flock is connected to every other. When a flock turns in unison, it’s a phase transition.
Starlings may simply be the most visible and beautiful example of a biological criticality that also seems to operate in proteins and neurons, hinting at universal principles yet to be understood.
Article:
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/the-incredible-science-behind-starling-murmurations
Video source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsM8rWeQiG8
#biodiversity #birdsmurmuration #coolcritters
I think this can be applied to many groups of creatures, like shoals of fish, a murder of crows, an unkindness of ravens and so on. Perhaps if humans flew or swam in large groups the same thing would happen
ReplyDeleteSo mesmerising. I've witnessed smaller flocks of birds in murmuration but not one as late as this.
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