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The science behind collective behaviour

A viral video shows hundreds of thousands of starlings in flight, in no apparent formation but in such perfect coordination that no bird collides with another. This ‘murmuration’ evokes ceaseless amazement. But is there some science behind such unspoken coordination? Scientists have attempted to decipher collective behaviour. ‘Herd mentality’ is the colloquial term, but ‘collective behaviour’ is undergirded by science. If you learn to model it, you can make use of it.