Crowds of Pakistanis swarm together in a camp at the Government College of Technology in Nowshera, 40 kilometers east Peshawar.

The way they swarm or flock together does not usually get good press coverage either: marching like worker ants might be a common simile for city commuters, but it's a damning, not positive, image.

With their other European partners they plan to unleash a swarm of autonomous oil-cleaning robots on oil slicks that are able to work together as a team to deal with the spill.