Daily Archives: November 13, 2011

Microscopic Hair on Bats Allow for Better Flight

Bats are interesting animals, in that they are the only mammals truly capable of sustained flight. Due to its poor eyesight bats have become such agile fliers that they have been able to adapt flying at night. Bats use echolocation to help them pinpoint their surroundings and allow for them to catch their prey. But what many […]

Gecko-Inspired Rocket Recovery

Geckos exhibit an unusual phenomenon that inspires exciting possibilities in human engineering. While frogs, lizards, and most other organisms that have self-orienting responses while falling use aerodynamics, geckos use principle of conservation of  angular momentum. Professor Robert Full’s lab at UC Berkeley has studied this behavior extensively. In the video from their study, notice how […]

Squids Can Fly!

In 2001, marine biologist Silvia Macia along with her husband Michael Robinson saw an unusual incident.  They had just witnessed a squid “flying” above the water (yes, above!).  After discovering this magnificent discovery, they started research on squids;  they asked whether any researchers have seen such a thing, a flying squid.  This eventually leads to […]