Daily Archives: October 17, 2011

Spying with Nature

The concept of a self propelling, romote controlled vehicle that would have to ability to fly through windows and spy on enemies has always been considered science fiction. They have been seen in movies such as James Bond or Transformers but now, scientists are figuring out ways to make these vehicles reality. These devices are […]

A Bird’s Breath

To humans, Avian flight can seem to be a simple, effortless, freeing experience. Birds seem to flap effortlessly to great heights before they coast and find a thermal, staying aloft for hours at a time. As we know, this is far from the case. The flight of a bird is extremely complex in many respects, […]

Ancestors of Birds Had Four Wings

We have looked at the final solutions so far of nature and flight. However, they had to have a beginning somewhere. There were two theories about how flight evolved around the time of dinosaurs. The first was that flight evolved from dinosaurs running very fast, and then eventually became more and more aerodynamic, and finally […]

A Kettle of Bald Eagles

The Bald Eagle, which was taken off of the Endangered Species list in 2007, is an amazing representation of power over time. Up from about 400 breeding pairs, the Bald Eagle now has over 9700 pairs throughout North America and is continuing to grow. An eagle mates for life, or the life of their mate, […]

The Astonishing Agility of the Dragonfly

The dragonfly is an extremely unique insect, both in the shape of its body, and its 4 independent wings. Lets start with its eyes. The dragonfly, like many insects, has nearly 30,000 eyes, called compound eyes(1). This doesn’t work well for traditional sight it gives the dragonfly a 360 degree motion detector of sorts. This […]