Murmuration

A cloud of black spots of color stands in the sky, changing Shape every second – have you ever seen that? Starlings usually form such formations, hundreds of them. The phenomenon has a very nice name in English: Murmuration.

The murmuring flock. The murmuring flock of starlings.

⇐ Iain Couzin's Collective Behavior

And even though it feels like such systems would teeter into chaos or instability, these collectives somehow manage to move in ways that appear extraordinarily well-coordinated and purposeful, as anyone who has watched a murmuration of starlings or a school of fish can attest. But what’s the driving force behind this behavior?

See Excerpts from the "Joy of Why" interview. transcript