Furiously Flashing Fireflies: Synchronised Signalling in the Mating Game

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One of the most spectacular displays in the whole of nature occurs in South-East Asia, where huge swarms of fireflies flash in synchrony. Why do the flashes synchronise? This question is answered by introducing a mathematical model of how fireflies respondto each others’ signals. This lecture discusses this application of mathematics to biology, and related ones, in non-technical terms.

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This event was on Wed, 07 Feb 1996

Professor Ian Stewart

Professor Ian Stewart FRS

Professor of Geometry

Ian Stewart read Mathematics at Churchill College, Cambridge before completing his doctorate at the University of Warwick where he is now a Professor of Maths...

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