Physicists discover surprisingly complex states emerging out of simple synchronized networks

Fireflies, heart cells, clocks, and power grids all do it--they can spontaneously sync up, sending signals out in unison. For centuries, scientists have been perplexed by this self-organizing behavior, coming up with theories and experiments that make up the science of sync. But despite progress being made in the field, mysteries still persist--in particular how networks of completely identical elements can fall out of sync.