The 1995 model of Bonabeau et al. explains the emergence of social hierarchies through randomness, but gives as many leaders as followers. A simple modification allows a more realistic asymmetry with far fewer leaders.

Since its introduction in 2000, the Sznajd model has been assumed to simulate a democratic community with two parties. The main flaw in this model is that a Sznajd system freezes in the long term in a non-democratic state, which can be either a dictatorship or a stalemate configuration. Here we...

A new approach for the description of phenomena of social aggregation is suggested. On the basis of psychological concepts (as for instance social norms and cultural coordinates), we deduce a general mechanism for social aggregation in which different clusters of individuals can merge according...

Public debates driven by incomplete scientific data where nobody can claim absolute certainty, due to the current state of scientific knowledge, are studied. The cases of evolution theory, global warming and H1N1 pandemic influenza are investigated. The first two are of controversial impact...

Many species of ants engage in social foraging in which traffic develops over pathways defined by pheromones or physical roads cleared through debris. Worker ants from the same colony have a common underlying evolutionary interest in their collective performance. Thus, ant traffic makes an...