As we’ve discussed previously, not all fluid-like behavior occurs within a literal fluid. Many groups of organisms — humans included — behave like a fluid en masse. Herds of sheep Keep reading
Tag: collective motion
Collective Catfish Convection
Gather many birds, fish, or humans together and you often get collective motion that’s remarkably fluid-like in appearance. This video shows a group of juvenile striped eel catfish, an (eventually) Keep reading
Crowds as a Fluid
At a low density, crowds of people can behave like a fluid, which has led to numerous hydrodynamically-based crowd models. At higher densities, though, crowds are more like a soft solid, Keep reading
Doing the Wave
Not everything that behaves like a fluid is a liquid or a gas. In particular, groups of organisms can behave in a collective manner that is remarkably flow-like. From schools of Keep reading
Collective Motion: Nematodes
We often imagine that collective motion creates an advantage – that the schooling fish and flocks of birds gain something from this behavior – but that’s not always the case. Keep reading
Collective Motion: Waving Bees
Giant honeybees live in huge open nests. To protect themselves, they’ve developed a mesmerizing wave-like defense known as shimmering. When shimmering, the bees in a hive, beginning from a distinct Keep reading
Collective Motion: Intro
Herds, flocks, schools, and even crowds can behave in fluid-like ways. On Science Friday, Stanford professor Nicholas Ouellette explains some of the physics behind these similarities. Fluids are, after all, Keep reading