THE quickest way to find people buried in an avalanche is to make sure no
single person is in charge of the rescue team. At least, that’s the view of
researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who
say they’ve worked out how to locate trapped skiers at least four times as fast
as conventional means, by adopting a swarm-like search strategy.
Many off-piste skiers now carry radio beacons to help locate them in an
accident. Traditionally, teams sweep the area in a grid pattern in an attempt to
home in on their signals. But precious time…
