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.
Non-monogamy and colony inheritance are the leading causes of conflict among termites, but these social cockroaches prove you don't always need a big brain to get to the bottom of even the curliest of problems peacefully, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 27, 2025
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In the natural world, animals rely on perceiving a range of signals to survive—and for insects, olfactory cues are particularly critical. These scents guide them to vital resources like mates, food, and egg-laying sites, ...
Ecology
Aug 22, 2025
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The world's largest carnivorous bat has a surprisingly rich social life, displaying affectionate greetings and providing food to family group members, according to a study by Marisa Tietge at Museum für Naturkunde—Leibniz ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 20, 2025
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Asymmetric interactions between different species of molecules have previously been demonstrated to result in self-organized patterns and functions. If one species A is attracted to B, but in turn, B is repelled by A, run-and-chase ...
General Physics
Aug 20, 2025
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Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is the most preferable system for live-cell super-resolution imaging. It enables the observation of intricate subcellular dynamics. However, conventional SIM has long relied on the ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 18, 2025
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A new study led by the Konrad Lorenz Research Center for Behavior and Cognition at the University of Vienna sheds light on a long-standing mystery in animal behavior: Why do certain individuals gain more influence than others ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2025
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Weaver ants have solved a problem that has plagued human teams for centuries: individuals contribute less to tasks when more people join in. New research published in Current Biology on 12 August shows individual weaver ants ...
Biotechnology
Aug 12, 2025
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A new study has investigated hundreds of videos and images taken by the public, tourism operators and scientists to better understand a rarely studied behavior among whales and dolphins—do they actually "play" together, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 12, 2025
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How can a horde of active robots be automatically brought to a standstill? By arresting their dynamics in a self-sustained way. This phenomenon was discovered by physicists at Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf (HHU) and ...
General Physics
Aug 6, 2025
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"I'm not going if I don't know anyone"—sound all too familiar? Well it's not just humans. Socializing in a new group can be tricky. People often rely on word of mouth and friends-of-friends connections. New research on ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 5, 2025
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