Emergent Behaviour

A mathematical model of the dawn chorus shows how synchronized singing can emerge without central coordination. Each simulated bird has its own threshold for beginning to sing, determined by increasing ambient light and the amount of nearby birdsong it hears.

Part 4: The dangling conversation In the previous article, we saw bacterial populations defend themselves collectively. Cyanobacteria formed protective flocs, while dying E.

Longhorn crazy ants cooperatively transporting awkward loads through mazes reveal a striking scaling effect: larger teams solve geometrically difficult problems much more effectively than smaller ones, even when the physical burden per ant is held constant.

A comparative study across arthropods finds that sperm cooperation is far more widespread and evolutionarily recurrent than previously assumed. In many insects, spiders, crustaceans and related animals, sperm bind into coordinated groups or use sperm-associated material to form organised structures.

A game theory model examines how collective intelligence can arise when each individual observes only one part of a complex environment.

Groups of American cockroaches can continue occupying a shelter after environmental cues change, even though isolated individuals quickly move elsewhere.

In the previous article, we saw that bacteria may encounter several overlapping signals. Different messages can indicate neighbours, competitors, changing conditions or competing courses of action.

Female Megalopta sweat bees must choose whether to remain as helpers in their mother’s nest or leave to reproduce independently.

Kagoshima University researchers identified methyl benzoate as an airborne plant-defence signal whose release rises around dusk. Plants receiving the compound activate defence-related genes through NPR1, a central regulator of plant immunity, using a response pattern distinct from the better-known signal methyl salicylate.

Researchers selectively silenced neural circuits associated with the doublesex gene in older honeybee workers and caused them to resume queen-care duties normally performed by younger bees.