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Flocks of birds, schools of fish and swarms of locusts display amazing forms of collective motion, while huge numbers of glow worms can emit light signals with almost unbelievable synchronization. These and many other collective phenomena in animal societies take place according to laws very similar to those governing the collective behavior in the inanimate nature, such as the magnetization of iron and the light radiation of lasers. During recent years, this has led to the study of swarm behavior as a challenging new field of science, in which ideas from the physical world are applied in order to understand the formation and structure of animal swarms.
From these studies, it has become clear that such collective behavior of animals emerges in a self-organized way, without any need of overall coordination. In The Rules of the Flock, the authors presents different swarm phenomena of the animal world and compare them to their counterparts in physics, in a conceptual and non-technical way, addressed to a general readership.
Preface
1: Introduction
2: The 8th Plague
3: The Onset of Connectivity
4: The Birds of Rome
5: Spins and Magnets
6: The Rules of the Flock
7: Complexity and Criticality
8: Fiery Clouds in the Jungle
9: The Audible Silence
10: Coupled Oscillators
11: Laser Beams
12: Ways to Go
13: How to Fly
14: Avian Aerodynamics
15: The Ant State
16: Kin Selection: My Sister's Keeper
17: Of Bees and Flowers
18: Communication and Language
19: Epilogue
References and Literature
Person Index
Helmut Satz is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bielefield in Germany, and has been with the university since 1971. From 1989-1996, he was Staff Member, European Center for Nuclear Research CERN, Geneva. During his career he has been the author of around 250 scientific papers and books, his most recent being Before Time Began: The Big Bang and the Emerging Universe.
"The Rules of the Flock covers an important topic that is now the focus of a great deal of basic and applied research and one that easily catches the imagination of the public. I expect that many people, like me, will read it in one sitting – it is quite difficult to put it down"
– Raghavendra Gadagkar, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science
"Swarming is one of the central concepts in the science of complex systems. Anyone with interest in science and without technical background can follow this book"
– Santo Fortunato, Indiana University, Bloomington
