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Health & Science3h 51m ago
A new study presents a framework that effectively restores access to powerful mathematical tools in physics to study collective systems that appear to ignore Newton's third law.
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Germany
Who
Marin Bukov, Ricard Alert, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, and the study authors
What
A new study presents a framework that effectively restores access to powerful mathematical tools in physics to study collective systems that appear to ignore Newton's third law.
When
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:11:00 GMT · 3h 51m ago
Where
Germany ·
Why
Many real-world collective systems like bird flocks, moving cells, swarming bacteria, and human crowds exhibit nonreciprocal interactions where Newton's third law does not apply, posing a challenge for physicists.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This new framework allows physicists to study complex systems where interactions are one-sided, potentially making it easier to analyze flocking animals, active matter, biological tissues, and even exotic quantum systems using established methods, and could reveal new forms of collective quantum behavior.
Story chain
4 events in this thread- Health & Science3h 51m agoA new study presents a framework that effectively restores access to powerful mathematical tools for studying systems where Newton's third law does not apply, such as bird flocks.Open article
- Currently Reading3h 51m agoA new study presents a framework that effectively restores access to powerful mathematical tools in physics to study collective systems that appear to ignore Newton's third law.
- Health & Science3h 51m agoA new study presents a framework that effectively restores access to powerful mathematical tools for studying systems where Newton's third law does not apply.Open article
- Health & Science3h 51m agoPhysicists have developed a framework to apply mathematical tools, previously limited to systems where Newton's third law applies, to nonreciprocal systems like bird flocks.Open article