I'm so glad I found this video! I witnessed the synchronous firefly phenomenon while I was walking my little beagle, Link of blessed memory, late at night, maybe 6 or 7 years ago. A huge old oak tree around the corner from my house looked like it was covered in the flashing lights of a Christmas tree, which of course it wasn't (it was nowhere near Christmas and, anyway, the tree was far too enormous for anyone to decorate it in such a way). Link didn't seem to be all that impressed, but I stood transfixed. This was in Wilmington, Delaware. At last, I have an explanation. Thank you!
As an electronics engineer, I am wandering what synchronization does with objects getting synchronized regarding the amplitude? We see the phase is getting sync, but does it do something with the amplitude? From electronics amplifier design, a positive feedback is an unwanted effect, and most amplifiers have a negative feedback to get them very stable at fixed gain. If we want to make a oscillator we apply a positive feedback.
Fantastic lecture! Thanks so much for putting this on (and for uploading it here so I can rewatch it).
I'm so glad I found this video! I witnessed the synchronous firefly phenomenon while I was walking my little beagle, Link of blessed memory, late at night, maybe 6 or 7 years ago. A huge old oak tree around the corner from my house looked like it was covered in the flashing lights of a Christmas tree, which of course it wasn't (it was nowhere near Christmas and, anyway, the tree was far too enormous for anyone to decorate it in such a way). Link didn't seem to be all that impressed, but I stood transfixed. This was in Wilmington, Delaware. At last, I have an explanation. Thank you!
As an electronics engineer, I am wandering what synchronization does with objects getting synchronized regarding the amplitude? We see the phase is getting sync, but does it do something with the amplitude? From electronics amplifier design, a positive feedback is an unwanted effect, and most amplifiers have a negative feedback to get them very stable at fixed gain. If we want to make a oscillator we apply a positive feedback.