cluster

This effect was sparked by a historical fluke: a cluster of deaths of 27-year-old musicians within a two-year period.

“It reminds me of some cancer clusters, where a surprising number of cancers gets notoriety, say in a workplace during a short period of time, and then the cluster gets bigger because other office workers get tested and cancers get diagnosed that would have been missed without the concern caused by the initial cluster,” Barnett said.

“So a potentially chance set of events creates a self-propelling cluster.”

Barely two miles away, Israeli warplanes begin their near-nightly pummeling of the Dahiyeh, the cluster of Beirut suburbs where Hezbollah holds sway.

Trump Heights is an isolated cluster of pre-fabricated houses in the rocky, mine-strewn landscape of the Golan Heights, a soaring eagle-and-menorah statue guarding the entrance gate.