We construct a model of an excitable medium with elastic rather than the
usual diffusive coupling. We explore the dynamics of elastic excitable media,
which we find to be dominated by low dimensional structures, including global
oscillations, period-doubled pacemakers, and propagating fronts. We suggest
that examples of elastic excitable media are to be found in such diverse
physical systems as Burridge-Knopoff models of frictional sliding, electronic
transmission lines, and active optical waveguides
