From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
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A termite "cathedral" mound produced by a termite colony.
Birds flocking emerges from simple rules: keep distance, stay aligned and avoid predators.
Conus textile exhibits an emergent cellular automaton pattern on its shell.
A plaster cast of an ant nest shows the advanced structure emerged from ant behavior.
For most of the times, the slime mold exists as thousands of single-celled organisms, but under certain conditions they group together forming a single entity.
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Ripple patterns in a sand dune created by wind or water.
Small atmospheric disturbances emerging into a hurricane.
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Emergence appears frequently in cities where no planning predetermines the layout of the city. Bangkok pictured.
Social self-organization in Central Asian trade routes.
A Möbius strip demonstrates emergence in mathematics.
Visualization of links between pages on a wiki.
The stock market has its own "invisible hand" emerging from purely self-interested actions. NYSE pictured.