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SynchroLight

A meditative simulation of firefly flash synchronization in Photuris frontalis, the synchronous firefly of the southeastern United States.

Science

  • Martin, O. et al. (2026). Excitation–inhibition interactions mediate firefly flash synchronization. bioRxiv.
  • Mirollo, R. & Strogatz, S. (1990). Synchronization of pulse-coupled biological oscillators. SIAM J. Appl. Math.
  • Sarfati, R., Hayes, J. C. & Peleg, O. (2020). Spatio-temporal reconstruction of emergent flash synchronization. J. R. Soc. Interface.
  • Sarfati, R. & Peleg, O. (2022). Chimera states among synchronous fireflies. Science Advances.
  • Ramírez-Ávila, G. M. et al. (2022). A model for collective synchronization of flashing in Photinus carolinus. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top.

Libraries

  • Three.js — 3D rendering
  • Howler.js — audio playback
  • Vite — build tooling

Audio

  • Cricket chorus — Mixkit (SFX Free License)
  • Night ambience — Mixkit (SFX Free License)
  • Frog calls — Lisa Redfern via SoundBible (Public Domain)

Stars

171 brightest stars positioned using real J2000 coordinates, transformed to your local sky based on date and approximate location.

Fireflies

Count 300
20500

Behavior

Coupling 0.03
weakstrong
Flash period 0.80s
fastslow
Variability 8%
uniformvaried
Visual range 3.5m
nearfar
Show firefly positions
Show trees
Auto-rotate camera