Theory

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

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.

To Which Quorum Should a Bacterium Listen? In the first article on microbial communication, we saw how bacteria release chemical signals that accumulate as a population grows.

This is a part one of a four part series of emergent microbial communication. “Quorum sensing”, “quorum quenching”. Cool words, what are we talking about here?

Researchers analysing 1,245 natural vocal interactions found that wild common marmosets use flexible turn-taking, matched call-response sequences, brief pauses, and very little overlap across both within-group and intergroup exchanges.

Long before the dawn of modern parenting, animals laid eggs and moved on, leaving their progeny to fend for themselves. Now, a study published in Nature uncovers one of the elegant ways that evolution transformed neglect into nurture.

This paper proposes “Embodied Collective Intelligence,” where robot teams share world memory, task progress, and skill experience without becoming a centralized super-agent.

This funding call frames AI safety as a population-level problem involving collusion, cascading failures, emergent communication, and collective capabilities. This closes 9-August-2026.

“Agentic AIs are a feral technology… they are projected to become a wild, self-sustaining, population.” Co-organised with Morgan Stanley, this upcoming Santa Fe Institute gathering takes place 15-Sept-2026 in NYC.

A June workshop dedicated specifically to distributed collective intelligence, including bio-inspired approaches, decentralized trust systems, artificial life concepts, and collective behavior in smart systems.