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from the people-don't-think-nature-be-like-it-is,-but-it-do dept.
Dandelion seeds fly using 'impossible' method never before seen in nature
Dandelion seeds fly using a method that researchers thought couldn't work in the real world, according to a study published on 17 October in Nature.
When some animals, aeroplanes or seeds fly, rings of circulating air called vortices form in contact with their wings or wing-like surfaces. These vortices can help to maintain the forces that lift the animal, machine or seed into the air.
Researchers thought that an unattached vortex would be too unstable to persist in nature. Yet the light, puffy seeds of dandelions use vortices that materialize just above their surfaces and lift the seed into the air.
Also at the University of Edinburgh and BBC.
A separated vortex ring underlies the flight of the dandelion (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0604-2) (DX)
(Score: 2, Touché) by Sulla on Thursday October 18 2018, @08:41PM (3 children)
This is great news! Now how do we apply it to aircraft?
Sincerely,
MIC
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @09:27PM (1 child)
Lots of people with tweezers and super glue, but that's not important right now.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:23PM
They'll have to work extra-hard to keep my neighbor from ruining the job while cursing them, mumbling something about his lawn.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by arslan on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:17PM
Easy. A tornado will easily lift meat and bones up in the air.... but joking aside, reading the article it looks like they were able to mimic this using silicon discs simulating the spoke model of the dandy seeds. The model had to be very close, a difference of 10% or more and the vortex is not sustained. I suppose there's potential here to apply to various flying apparatus to complement flight.
Also, folks use paragliders for all sorts of fun nowadays utilizing wind lifts, so maybe we'll see someone with a giant man-made dandy ball on the beach one day?