Patterns of Baitballing
Hundreds of ocean predators take advantage of a natural tendency of swarms to coalesce and to behave as a large synchronized group despite a lack of higher ordered thought or direction. Steven Strogatz gave a beautiful presentation about this natural patterning in fireflies, swallows, and so many schools of fish, particularly as they evade predators. Certainly worth a listen if only for the beautiful photos of baitballs converging out in the open ocean and to hear the hilarious demise of a bridge in England because of unintentional synchronized behavior in humans.
