Flying fish glide as well as birds

How well do flying fish fly? This is the question that puzzled Haecheon Choi from Seoul National University, Korea. Measuring aerodynamic forces on dried darkedged-wing flying fish in a wind tunnel, Choi and Hyungmin Park ...

Muscle power: Bats power take-off using recycled energy

Bats are uniquely able to stretch and store energy in their bicep and tricep tendons during take-off and climbing flight, giving them an extra power boost. A new study on fruitbats, to be presented at the meeting of the Society ...

Winter Olympics Science Notes: Skeleton

Shake your head as hard as you can for about one minute. That's how aerospace engineer Timothy Wei describes the sport of skeleton. And by the way, within that minute, athletes also travel head-first around sharp corners ...

Cool Movie: SDO Destroys a Sundog (w/ Video)

Last week, on Feb. 11th, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) lifted off from Cape Canaveral on a five-year mission to study the sun. Researchers have called the advanced spacecraft the "crown jewel" of NASA's heliophysics ...

Scientists predict that rocky planets formed from 'pebbles'

Using a new process in planetary formation modeling, where planets grow from tiny bodies called "pebbles," Southwest Research Institute scientists can explain why Mars is so much smaller than Earth. This same process also ...

Maximizing the environmental benefits of autonomous vehicles

The added weight, electricity demand and aerodynamic drag of the sensors and computers used in autonomous vehicles are significant contributors to their lifetime energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new ...

The aerodynamics of speed skiing

(Phys.org) —By studying the aerodynamics of speed skiing, Engineering student Robert Sills is developing methods to improve results of the British Speed Ski Team by reducing aerodynamic drag.

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