Mathematical Digest
Short Summaries of Articles about Mathematics
in the Popular Press
"Calculating Swarms," by Ivars Peterson. Science News, 11 November 2000,pages 314-316.
Insect behavior provides scientific inspiration. Scientists met at threeEuropean conferences last fall to discuss ways to apply knowledge about insectsocial behavior to problem-solving. This "swarm intelligence" has been appliedto many kinds of problems, including network communication, robotic maneuvering,and crowd control.
--- Kathryn Leonard
