How Do Fireflies Flash In Sync? Studies Suggest A New Answer. – Quanta Magazine
Summer may be over and fireflies have gone their way, but science marches on with its inquiry into their behavior. For example in the Great Smoky Mountains and elsewhere many have seen fireflies sync up and Joshua Sokol spoke with Orit Peleg and Raphaël Sarfati about their latest findings on the phenomenon of synchronized flashes. There’s a little bit of math, biology, and something akin to computation happening.. it’s super fascinating! As an aside, this editor recommends finding Alastair Reynolds’s story A Murmuration and maybe draw a parallel twixt the two. Fireflies and humans aren’t the only things capable of syncing up, and Adam Frank takes a moment for Explaining The Mystery Of Synchronization, From Swinging Pendulums To Chirping Crickets. Take a deep dive into this aspect of coördination, the marvels and miracles readily apparent in nature while its fundamental motivation may be elusive. For now at least. (CS)
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