We, like many animals, live in groups. We need these groups to survive -- but why? What are the benefits of group living? What do we gain from each other? What quirks of evolution drove us to band together, form collectives, and solve problems together?

In this episode, we’re joined by collective behavior researchers Iain Couzin and Naomi Leonard, who study networks, teamwork, and interactions between groups of everything from fish to robots to humans on social media. They discuss how we can get the most out of each other, what we can learn from creatures across all scales of life, and the beauty of our interconnected world.

You can read more about our guests’ research on their lab websites. Iain Couzin work is on https://collectivebehaviour.com/research/ (and on Twitter @icouzin) and Naomi Leonard is https://naomi.princeton.edu/.

This episode was written and produced by Celia Ford and Deanna Necula. Music from this episode was produced by Blue Dot Sessions. Episode art by Celia Ford, with vector art from The Noun Project. A full transcript of the episode is available in the show notes at carrytheoneradio.com.