All Articles Tagged As: birds

An unmanned aerial vehicle that uses wind power like a bird -- pure genius (12/16/2011)

Queensland University of Technology Ph.D. student Wesam Al Sabban is a genius and has the medal to prove it!The engineering student received the accolade for his work on the design of an unmanned aerial vehicle that would be powered by the sun and wind. ...> Full Article

Why do woodpeckers resist head impact injury? (10/29/2011)

As reported in the Oct. 26 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE, an analysis of woodpecker anatomy and behavior revealed some features that could potentially be put to use in designing more effective helmets. ...> Full Article

Borrowing from brightly-colored birds: Physicists develop lasers inspired by nature (10/15/2011)

Researchers at Yale University are studying how two types of nanoscale structures on the feathers of birds produce brilliant and distinctive colors. The researchers are hoping that by borrowing these nanoscale tricks from nature they will be able to produce new types of lasers?ones that can assemble themselves by natural processes. The team will present their findings at the Optical Society's Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics 2011, in San Jose, Calif. next week. ...> Full Article

Auto-pilots need a birds-eye view (7/7/2011)

New research on how birds can fly so quickly and accurately through dense forests may lead to new developments in robotics and auto-pilots. Scientists from Harvard University trained pigeons to fly through an artificial forest with a tiny camera attached to their heads, literally giving a birds-eye view. This research is being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting on July 1. ...> Full Article

Flapping micro air vehicles inspired by swifts (7/6/2011)

A new design of micro air vehicle (MAV) will be able to flap, glide and hover. Researchers have been inspired by birds to design a MAV that combines flapping wings, which will allow it to fly at slow speeds and hover, with the ability to glide, ensuring good quality images from any on-board camera. This work will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow on July 2, 2011. ...> Full Article

Finding is a feather in the cap for researchers studying birds' big, powerful eyes (6/25/2011)

Say what you will about bird brains, but our feathered friends sure have us -- and all the other animals on the planet -- beat in the vision department, and that has a bit to do with how their brains develop. ...> Full Article

Engineers study hybrid systems to design robust unmanned vehicles (2/3/2011)

University of Arizona aerospace and mechanical engineers are studying bird and bee flight to develop unmanned vehicles that stay aloft longer and cope with sudden and severe changes in airflow. ...> Full Article

When bird meets machine, bioinspired flight (11/25/2010)

Working at a crossroad between biology and engineering, scientists have modeled and are now mimicking the ingenious natural design of falling geckos, gliding snakes, cruising seagulls, flapping insects and floating maple seeds to improve the design of air vehicles. ...> Full Article

How hummingbirds fight the wind (11/24/2010)

Hummingbirds rank among the world's most accomplished hovering animals, but how do they manage it in gusty winds? A team of researchers has built a robotic hummingbird wing to discover the answer, which they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. ...> Full Article

Simple rubber device mimics complex bird songs (11/23/2010)

A team of scientists at Harvard University has reproduced many of the characteristics of real bird song with a simple physical model made of a rubber tube -- work presented today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. ...> Full Article

Flexible wings driven by simple oscillation may be viable for efficient micro air vehicles (11/23/2010)

To avoid some of the design challenges involved in creating micro-scale air vehicles that mimic the flapping of winged insects or birds, Georgia Tech researchers propose using flexible wings that are driven by a simple sinusoidal flapping motion. ...> Full Article

Should airplanes look like birds? (11/22/2010)

Airplanes do not look much like birds, but should they? This question is exactly what a pair of engineers in California and South Africa inadvertently answered recently in experiments they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. ...> Full Article

Bird feathers produce color through structure similar to beer foam (4/4/2009)

Some of the brightest colors in nature are created by tiny nanostructures with a structure similar to beer foam or a sponge, according to Yale University researchers. ...> Full Article

Birds, bats and insects hold secrets for aerospace engineers (2/5/2008)

Natural flyers like birds, bats and insects outperform man-made aircraft in aerobatics and efficiency. University of Michigan engineers are studying these animals as a step toward designing flapping-wing planes with wingspans smaller than a deck of playing cards. ...> Full Article