Aha-got 'im! Yes.the mosquitos are swarming this time of year. Alaskans joke that the bloodsucker is their state bird. But have you ever looked closely at a swarm of mating mosquitos, gnats ,or midges? It's a curious thing. The swarm maintains a kind of shape as it moves around. But the bugs inside it seem to flit about randomly rather than flocking like birds. This collective , yet disordered, flight intrigued physicists in Rome. They shot ultraslow -motion video of swarming midges. Then they mapped the flight of each midge, and did a mathematical analysis of the collective behavior. Their finding :the motion of the midges is not random. The bugs stay far enough apart to avoid locking into a formation. Flocks and schools move in formation only once the group reaches a critical density. Below that threshold , the individuals move -well, like midges. Insects avoidance of full- fledged flocking may be a reproductive strategy:after all, it's hard to mingle when you 're stuck in a line dance.
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