Collective behaviour in biological systems is often accompanied by strong
correlations. The question has therefore arisen of whether correlation is
amplified by the vicinity to some critical point in the parameters space.
Biological systems, though, are typically quite far from the thermodynamic
limit, so that the value of the control parameter at which correlation and
susceptibility peak depend on size. Hence, a system would need to readjust its
control parameter according to its size in order to be maximally correlated.
This readjustment, though, has never been observed experimentally. By gathering
three-dimensional data on swarms of midges in the field we find that swarms
tune their control parameter and size so as to maintain a scaling behaviour of
the correlation function. As a consequence, correlation length and
susceptibility scale with the system's size and swarms exhibit a near-maximal
degree of correlation at all sizes.Comment: Selected for Viewpoint in Physics; PRL Editor's Suggestio
