As bikes navigate city streets after dark, they are often equipped with lights. The lights make the bikes visible to cars or other bikers, and the hazards of traffic less dangerous.

Imagine that as solitary bikes come together, their lights begin to pulsate at the same cadence. The bikers may not know each other, or may only be passing each other briefly, but for the moments they are together, their lights synchronize. The effect is a visually united presence, as groups of bikes illuminate themselves with a gently pulsing, collective light source.

Nature provides rich examples of synchrony unifying groups of individuals at night. The sound of crickets chirping in the night is the sound of many individual insects, coordinating to chirp at once. A single cricket’s sound is amplified when it joins the collective whole. Fireflies provide a spectacular study of the synchronous flashing of light across large swarms of insects in the night.

For full description of the project check out the Media Lab project page:
https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/bike-swarm/overview/