Swarming locusts impossible to predict

Mathematical analysis shows that insects travel to the beat of their own drum

Mathematicians have now figured out the dynamics that drive locusts across the landscape, devastating everything underfoot — and the math says people will never be able to predict where the little buggers will go.

SWARM BREWING The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, can rapidly switch from a solitary insect to part of a swarming mass.