This bit: "The scientists mapped the different synchronized clusters that can form in a network of oscillators to that network’s symmetries. In this context, s

This bit: "The scientists mapped the different synchronized clusters that can form in a network of oscillators to that network’s symmetries. In this context, symmetries refer to the ways a network’s oscillators can be swapped without changing the network, just as a square can be rotated 90 degrees or reflected horizontally, vertically or diagonally without changing its appearance." ... "The synchronized part is one big synchronized cluster, and the desynchronized part is a bunch of single clusters" Sounds like Chladni/Faraday patterns to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Chladni#Chladni_figures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Chladni#Chladni_figures The symmetry group might be the network of anti-nodes, which vibrate in common with the shared energy reflecting through the medium. The nodes seem less likely, as that's where the energy waves cancel out, thus providing less kick against the local oscillators to overcome their independent motion.