Mosquito Formation

Aha - got 'im! Yes, the [mosquitoes:insects] are swarming this time of year. Alaskans joke that the [bloodsucker:hyperbola] is their state bird. But have you ever looked closely at a swarm of mating mosquitos, gnats, or midges? It's a curious thing. The swarm maintains a kind of shape as it moves around. But the bugs inside it seem to flit about randomly rather than flocking like birds. This collective, yet disordered, flight [intrigued:people] physicists in Rome. They shot ultra-slow-motion video of swarming midges. Then they mapped the flight of each midge and did a mathematical analysis of the collective behaviour.Their findings: the motion of the midges is not random. The bugs stay far enough apart to avoid locking into a formation. The swarm instead [expands:contracts] as needed to stay just below the [threshold:tenfold] density.