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Being a metal fan and having participated in quite a few mosh pits myself, I found this New Scientist article really interesting and entertaining. Jesse Silverberg from Cornell analyzed the behavior of moshers and showed that they move in the same random way as gas particles. Then his team did some more modeling and even managed to recreate a circle mosh (see the gif above)!
This is a great example of how scientific principles can be applied to investigate essentially anything we encounter. And a cool reminder that no matter how highly we humans might think of ourselves, essentially we are just clumps of particles, subject to the same laws of nature as an atom of gas (granted, mosh pits are probably not the best expression of our intelligence, but still).
Also, if you’ve never tried moshing, I highly recommend it (except for the wall of death, gas particles would never be that stupid). :)
SoSciety 