Transient or unstable behavior is often ignored in considering long time dynamics in the deterministic world. However, stochastic effects can change the picture dramatically, so that the transients can dominate the long range behavior.
Coherence resonance is one relatively simple example of this transformation, and we consider others such as noise-driven synchronization in networks, recurrence of diseases, and stochastic stabilization in systems with delay.
The challenge is to identify common features in these phenomena, leading to new approaches for other systems of this type. Some recurring themes include the influence of multiple time scales, cooperation of both discrete and continuous aspects in the dynamics, and the remnants of underlying bifurcation structure visible through the noise.