Ever walked under a blossoming fruit tree and wondered how they know when to bloom and how every tree knows to do it at the same time? You’re not alone. The answer could be magnets! Magnets and flowering trees? You’d think they have nothing to do with one another, but that’s where you’re wrong! It’s all thanks to magnetic synchrony. Scientists at the University of California developed a computer model demonstrating a popular model in statistical physics studying a pistachio orchard of over 6,500 trees. This model helps scientists understand how and why certain events (like blossoming) occur at the same time over long distances. What is Magnetic Synchrony? Named for physicist Ernst Ising, the Ising Model is a mathematical model of ferromagnetism in statistical mechanics. It was designed to explain permanent magnets like those on your fridge, but it can also be used to explain the magnetic synchrony of trees blossoming. In the case of magnetic materials, the forces between neighboring atoms keep electrons aligned so that their magnetic forces aggregate to become stronger. The Ising Model makes predictions about how these neighboring interactions could take place over long distances. If trees located near each other are blooming at the same time, it implies that they are communicating in some fashion. While scientists aren’t positive, they theorize that root grafting is the source of the communication. The trees are able to pass on messages alerting nearby trees that it’s time to blossom. The Ising Model helps to predict how these messages can spread through an entire orchard of trees. "Instances of synchronous behavior, when everything comes on at once, are found throughout nature, from fruit and nut trees in orchards, to cone-bearing trees in the forest and even the sudden spread of some infectious diseases,” says Andrew Noble, a project scientist in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at UC Davis. Nature has shown tons of instances of mimicking magnets and being influenced by magnetic fields, including how both people and other creatures--such as fish--can sense magnetic fields. If magnetic synchrony can help explain the patterns of blossoming trees, what else can magnetism do? For more magnet-related news and updates, be sure to follow along with our blog or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.