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Starlings and Social Networks

4 Extra Debut. Becky Ripley and Emily Knight explore what starling murmuration patterns can tell us about our own social networks. From 2019.

Starling murmurations, those swirling, shifting sky-patterns made by hundreds of birds moving in synchrony, are one of nature鈥檚 greatest spectacles.

How do they avoid crashing into each other?

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight delve into the maths behind the movement with some computer modelling to help them chart the flight patterns, and discover the secret.

As for us humans, sadly we don鈥檛 fly together through the sky in swirling clouds. But there ARE patterns to how we interact with one another.

Like a ripple of movement, travelling through a cloud of starlings, ideas can spread through social media with blistering speed. Here too, computer modelling can help us chart how opinions morph as we react to those around us.

Do we have more in common with the birds than we think?

Featuring:

* Jamie Wood from the University of York
* Dr Jennifer Golbeck from the University of Maryland.

Produced and presented by Becky Ripley and Emily Knight.

First broadcast on 麻豆社 Radio 4 in June 2019.

Available now

15 minutes

Last on

Mon 5 Jan 2026 09:30
麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra

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Broadcasts

  • Mon 17 Jun 2019 13:45
    麻豆社 Radio 4
  • Tue 19 Nov 2019 09:30
    麻豆社 Radio 4
  • Mon 20 Sep 2021 19:45
    麻豆社 Radio 4
  • Mon 5 Jan 2026 09:30
    麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra

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    Making sense of what it means to be human by looking to the natural world.