Who, really, is the best player in baseball? Ask five sports media outlets and you may get five different answers. Rankings can vary dramatically from one source to another, change from year to year and leave out different players altogether, making it difficult to determine where there is genuine consensus and where opinions diverge. Now, Rice University statisticians, in collaboration with Cornell University, have developed a new method designed to find clearer answers in messy rankings data. The research was recently published in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports.

From rhythmic activity in localized populations of cortical neurons to dengue hotspots that repeatedly reappear across Medellín, Colombia, localized oscillations shape collective dynamics in complex networked systems ranging from the brain to urban epidemics. However, existing explanations are often constrained by strict requirements on system dimensionality. This study reveals a more general mechanism for the emergence of localized oscillations, showing how collective dynamics can transcend these conventional constraints and broadening the theoretical framework for understanding localized collective behavior.