How do flocking birds and schools of fish move? New research offers crystal-clear answer

Flocking birds and schools of fish are a familiar sight.

While previous research has uncovered the broad dynamics driving these movements, their underlying intricacies remain a mystery.

Now a study by a team of New York University mathematicians offers new insights into these phenomena.

It reveals that flocks and schools behave in ways similar to a soft crystalline material, with individual birds and fish serving as "atoms" that are evenly spaced in a lattice-like formation. ...