Mathematicians explain how some fireflies flash in sync

Stake out in Pennsylvania's Cook State Forest at the right time of year and you can see one of nature's great light shows: swarms of fireflies that synchronize their flashes like strings of Christmas lights in the dark.

Tic toc: Why pendulums swing in harmony

Almost 350 years ago, Dutch inventor and scientist Christiaan Huygens observed that two pendulum clocks hanging from a wall would synchronise their swing over time.

Pendulum swings back on 350-year-old mathematical mystery

(Phys.org) —A 350-year-old mathematical mystery could lead toward a better understanding of medical conditions like epilepsy or even the behavior of predator-prey systems in the wild, University of Pittsburgh researchers ...

New study shows nanoscale pendulum coupling

In 1665, Lord Christiaan Huygens found that two pendulum clocks, hung in the same wooden structure, oscillated spontaneously and perfectly in line but in opposite directions: the clocks oscillated in anti-phase. Since then, ...

Clock mystery from 350 years ago is shedding light on human health

In 1665, the inventor of the pendulum clock, Christiaan Huygens, noticed that two of his clocks hung on the same wall would eventually sync up, so that their pendulums swung in opposite directions in perfect time. This "insensible ...

Optical strontium clock to become much more accurate

(Phys.org)—An optical clock with neutral strontium atoms is considered one of the top candidates for the definition of a "new" second. The probabilities have increased considerably, since its frequency will now be determined ...

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