Our lab is an interdisciplinary group of researchers based at the University of Colorado Boulder, led by Dr. Orit Peleg. Our goal is to formulate and test phenomenological theories about natural signal design principles and their emergent spatiotemporal patterns. We focus on universal problems that most communication systems must solve, whether they are animate or inanimate: How should organisms choose an optimal signal modality? How should they spatiotemporally integrate signals? And how should they respond (communicate a message back, locomote, Etc.)? We explore these questions using model organisms, such as fireflies and honeybee swarms. Examples include fireflies who communicate over long distances using light signals, and bees who serve as signal amplifiers to propagate pheromone-based information about the queen’s location.