The agility and manoeuvrability of a flying animal and the inertial power required to flap the wings are related to the moment of inertia of the wings. The moments of inertia of the wings of 29 bird species and three bat species were determined using wing strip analysis. We also measured wing length, wing span, wing area, wing mass and body mass. A strong correlation (r2=0.997) was found betwee...

Although there is mounting evidence that passive mechanical dynamics of insect wings play an integral role in insect flight, our understanding of the structural details underlying insect wing flexibility remains incomplete. Here, we use comparative morphological and mechanical techniques to illuminate the function and diversity of two mechanisms within Odonata wings presumed to affect dynamic w...

WINGS for Kids is a nonprofit organization based in Charleston, South Carolina, that aims to supply the social and emotional learning (SEL) component into existing programs for school-aged children and thereby assist them to recognize and manage emotions, care about others, make good decisions, behave ethically and responsibly, build satisfying relationships, and avoid negative behaviors. The a...

Bats have long captured the imaginations of scientists and engineers with their unrivaled agility and maneuvering characteristics, achieved by functionally versatile dynamic wing conformations as well as more than 40 active and passive joints on the wings. Wing flexibility and complex wing kinematics not only bring a unique perspective to research in biology and aerial robotics but also pose su...

Recently, the surface of the wings of the Psaltoda claripennis cicada species has been shown to possess bactericidal properties and it has been suggested that the nanostructure present on the wings was responsible for the bacterial death. We have studied the surface-based nanostructure and bactericidal activity of the wings of three different cicadas (Megapomponia intermedia, Ayuthia spectabile...

By combining the flapping and rotary motion, a wing rotor (FWR) shows unique kinematics of motion. It can produce significantly higher aerodynamic efficiency lift coefficient than insect-like wings. However, due to lack controllable FWR aerial vehicles, effect different parameters on characteristics remains be evaluated experimentally. In this work, we conduct experimental studies investigate F...

Over the last decades, there has been great interest in understanding the aerodynamics of flapping flight and development of flapping wing Micro Air Vehicles (FWMAVs). The camber deformation and twisting has been demonstrated quantitatively in a number of insects, but making artificial wings that mimic those features is a challenge. This paper reports the development and characterization of art...

Both kinematics and morphology are critical determinants of performance in flapping flight. However, the functional consequences of changes in these traits are not yet well understood. Traditional aerodynamic studies of planform wing shape have suggested that high-aspect-ratio wings generate more force per area and perform more efficiently than low-aspect-ratio wings, but these analyses may neg...

The derivation of the nonlinear dynamics of flapping wing micro air vehicles is presented. Simulation results investigate differences in the position and orientation of the body due to differing wing masses and aerodynamic modeling choices. The flapping wing micro air vehicle is modeled as a system of three rigid bodies: a body and two wings. Themass of the wings, and their associatedmass and i...

Animals with color vision use color information in intra- and interspecific communication, which in turn may drive the evolution of conspicuous colored body traits via natural and sexual selection. A recent study found that the transparent wings of small flies and wasps in lower-reflectance light environments display vivid and stable structural color patterns, called "wing interference patterns...