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Swarming Locusts Impossible to Predict
from Science News
Mathematicians have now figured out the dynamics that drive locusts across the landscape, devastating everything underfoot--and the math says people will never be able to predict where the little buggers will go.
The new analysis, reported in an upcoming issue of Physical Review E, suggests that random factors accumulate and influence how swarming locusts collectively decide to change course.
"These swarms are driven by intrinsic dynamics," says team member Iain Couzin, a biologist at Princeton University. "In all practical terms, predicting when a swarm is going to change direction is going to be impossible."
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