In 2020, East Africa experienced its largest locust swarm in 70 years, devastating crops worth an estimated $8.5 billion and affecting 23 million people. The worst infestation in recent history led scientists to study locust behavior to predict and manage future swarms. A new model published in Science sheds light on how locusts transition from solitary to swarming behavior, emphasizing collective motion and providing insights that could influence agriculture and robotics. Researcher Iain Couzin's work shows the potential for predictive models that may impact one in ten people globally.
"Our work provides a new perspective for considering collective motion in animals, and robotics too. One application is a new class of predictive models of how and where swarms move."
"This model came from particle physics and suggested that individuals bump into each other randomly, then flow together all in the same direction if there is a high density of individuals."
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