With computer tracking, physicists found that each starling in a flock adjusts its trajectory to those of its six or seven neighbors, no matter how close or far they are. The technique helps the flocks stay cohesive when attacked by a predator such as a peregrine falcon — although in that case a flock will often still break up into two. Read the full story. Credit: STARFLAG Project/INFM-CNR

• Print
• |
• Comment

Found in: Life and Physics