Before revision:  We find that cell-to-cell variability makes the conventional model of frequency encoding ineffective for a large population of communicating cells. Instead, our results suggest that multicellular networks URLanized near a dynamical critical point which allows cell-to-cell communications to significantly modulate the collective cellular dynamics .
After revision:  We find that cell-to-cell variability. The model further predicts that the oscillation propensity increases not only with the stimulus, but also with the cell density due to increased communication. Experiments confirm this prediction, showing that cell density modulates the collective sensory response. We further implicate cell-cell communication by coculturing the fibroblasts with cancer cells, which we show act as "defects" in the communication network, thereby reducing the oscillation propensity. These results suggest that multicellular networks URLanized near a dynamical critical point which allows cell-to-cell communications to significantly modulate the collective cellular dynamics .