Collective behavior as a research area investigates how large ensembles of interacting agents—such as cells, animals, humans, or artificial units—generate emergent spatiotemporal patterns and coordinated dynamics that cannot be trivially inferred from individual-level rules. It integrates concepts and methods from statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, complex systems theory, network science, and computational modeling to characterize phenomena such as synchronization, swarming, flocking, consensus formation, and phase transitions in social or biological systems. Research focuses on identifying local interaction rules, quantifying macroscopic order parameters, understanding robustness and criticality, and developing predictive, often multi-scale, models of group-level organization and decision-making.
Researchers in Spain have discovered that in collectives of moving fire ants, rippling "waves" of density and activity are likely triggered by local regions where ants collectively travel in the same direction as their neighbors.
When it comes to flocking together, homing pigeons use a simple strategy to find better ways home, according to a recent report. The study, published in the journal eLife, suggests that homing pigeons use simple route averaging ...
Plants & Animals
May 26, 2026
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When the loss of a queen wasp triggers a power struggle and social turmoil, colonies can survive the upheaval thanks to helpful wasps that pick up the slack, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
Plants & Animals
May 25, 2026
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Like schools of fish and flocks of birds, our cells can also migrate collectively in coordination with their neighbors. This harmonious movement of cells occurs during embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 22, 2026
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A new study, published in Ecology and Evolution, shows that social living is associated with longer lifespan, but also that the benefits of sociality level off once animals move beyond living in pairs.
Evolution
May 22, 2026
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Beneath the tropical trees of southern Mexico, enormous shoals of sulfur mollies blanket the water surface of toxic sulfur springs, where survival depends on collective defense against relentless attacks from predatory birds. ...
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2026
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Imagine trying to build a house without a blueprint, find a shortcut through an unfamiliar city without a map, or govern a large organization with no leaders and no meetings.
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2026
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15
Like people, nonhuman primates live in groups that vary in size and shape depending on the species. Some primate groups are small and simple; others are large and more layered. Over the decades, primatologists have observed ...
Plants & Animals
May 5, 2026
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67
In 2025, Konstanz scientists looked very closely at rotting fruit in local orchards, and observed what no one had before—worms, hundreds of them, twisting skyward into self-assembled living structures known as "towers." It ...
Plants & Animals
May 4, 2026
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15
Researchers at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) and the University of the Ryukyus have developed a new imaging method that makes it possible to see, in real time, how food is distributed and ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 29, 2026
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