A bird in laser goggles has helped scientists discover a new phenomenon in the physics of flight.
Swirling vortices appear in the flow of air that follows a bird's wingbeat. But for slowly flying birds, these vortices were unexpectedly short-lived, researchers from Stanford University report December 6 in Bioinspiration and Biomimetics. The results could help scientists better understand how animals fly, and could be important for designing flying robots ( SN: 2/7/15, p. 18 ).
To study the complex air currents produced by birds' flapping wings, the researchers trained a Pacific parrotlet, a small species of parrot, to fly through laser light — with the appropriate eye protection, of course. Study coauthor Eric Gutierrez, who recently graduated from Stanford, built tiny, 3-D‒printed laser goggles for the bird, named Obi.
The source paper is available as well.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday December 07 2016, @06:40AM
The little parrot in Goggles is cute enough, but the scientists adding "Flight of the Valkyries" was funny.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Wednesday December 07 2016, @07:09AM
The parrot only cooperated because the shades were cool...
Seriously, though, the paper shows how little detail is known about the mechanics of flight in nature. The models are coarse approximations and are only valid in a narrow field of application. I can only look with aw at nature (and with great respect) how it works. The biomechanics still have a lot of work to do if they want to replicate flight with the same efficacy as nature presents. OTOH, that makes this kind of research also really cool (not withstanding the shades).
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 07 2016, @07:23PM
We could just use high-speed capture of bird wings to know the trajectory of every feather, feed that into a computer model, and check the result... But the next year's worth of worldwide Teraflo(ps) are already reserved for Michael Bay explosions, SETI, and spying on people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @08:02AM
if copyright terms were sane, they could have added in "I believe I can fly". Although "Flight of the Valkyries" is probably funnier.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @10:28AM
Birds with laser (protective) googles. Robots jumping off walls.
Now that's what I call 'News for Nerds', well done SoylentNews!
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday December 07 2016, @11:04AM
https://what-if.xkcd.com/99/ [xkcd.com]
We trained two starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to fly in a wind tunnel whilst wearing respirometry masks.
I really think the paper should have stopped there; no matter what their results were, they can't possibly improve on the achievement they opened with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @08:51PM
phew, i was wondering about that!