This review examines intermittent target search strategies, which combine
phases of slow motion, allowing the searcher to detect the target, and phases
of fast motion during which targets cannot be detected. We first show that
intermittent search strategies are actually widely observed at various scales.
At the macroscopic scale, this is for example the case of animals looking for
food ; at the microscopic scale, intermittent transport patterns are involved
in reaction pathway of DNA binding proteins as well as in intracellular
transport. Second, we introduce generic stochastic models, which show that
intermittent strategies are efficient strategies, which enable to minimize the
search time. This suggests that the intrinsic efficiency of intermittent search
strategies could justify their frequent observation in nature. Last, beyond
these modeling aspects, we propose that intermittent strategies could be used
also in a broader context to design and accelerate search processes.Comment: 72 pages, review articl
