Explore the fascinating world of collective behavior in honeybees and fireflies in this illuminating talk by Orit Peleg at the Santa Fe Institute. Delve into the emergent properties of insect swarms, examining how individual bees and fireflies collaborate to create complex, adaptive systems. Learn about cutting-edge research on bee swarms functioning as shapeshifting metamaterials and mesh networks, and discover the role of diversity in improving swarm computations. Investigate the self-organization of firefly light shows and the scientific explanations behind their synchronization. Gain insights into how studying these insects can shed light on human collective behavior and hidden patterns in our own societies. Through interdisciplinary approaches combining biology, physics, and computer science, uncover the mechanisms behind flow-mediated olfactory communication in honeybee swarms and the spatiotemporal reconstruction of firefly flash synchronization using advanced imaging techniques. Read more