The Feast of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain draws crowds of thousands. Scientists recently published an analysis of the crowd motion in these dense gatherings. The team filmed the crowds Keep reading
Tag: active matter
Strata of Starlings
Starlings come together in groups of up to thousands of birds for the protection of numbers. These flocks form spellbinding, undulating masses known as murmurations, where the movement of individual Keep reading
Growing Hydrogels in an Active Fluid
Active nematic fluids borrow their ingredients from biology. Using long, rigid microtubules and kinesin motor proteins capable of cross-linking between and “walking” along tubules, researchers create these complex flow patterns. Keep reading
Stretching Ant Rafts
In their natural habitat, fire ants experience frequent floods and so developed the ability to form rafts. Entire colonies will float out a flood in a two-ant-thick raft anchored to Keep reading
Swarm of Surfers
Self-propelled objects can form fascinating patterns. Here, researchers investigate how small plastic “surfers” move on a vibrating fluid. Each surfer is heavier in its stern than its bow. When the Keep reading
Understanding Cyanobacteria
Over 2 billion years ago, cyanobacteria emerged as Earth’s first photosynthesizing organisms. Today they are widespread and critical contributors to both carbon and nitrogen cycles. Colonies can form large mats, Keep reading
Lanes in Crowds
In nature — from atoms to human crowds — two groups moving in opposite directions often spontaneously organize into interwoven lanes flowing in their respective directions. Now researchers have built Keep reading
Recreating Flocks
Birds, fish, and other creatures form amazing, undulating swarms of individuals. How these collectives comes together and move continues to fascinate scientists. Here, researchers look at simple particles with two Keep reading
Starlings Over Rome
Each winter millions of starlings migrate to Rome, where they form enormous murmurations in the sky above. The ephemeral and amorphous displays are driven by each bird responding to its Keep reading
Collective Motion in Grains
Flocks of birds and schools of fish swarm in complicated collective motions, but groups of non-living components can move collectively, too. In this Lutetium Project video, we learn about grains Keep reading