Skip navigation Web MSNBC Space Science Gadgets Internet ... Innovation Categories U.S. news World news Politics Business ... Local news Browse Video Photos Community Today Show ... MSNBC TV Fruit flies: Natureâs hovercraft A new theory for how theyâre able to turn so quickly By By Daniel Kane Science WASHINGTON, April 17, 2003 - On a high-tech stage surrounded by infrared video cameras grabbing 5000 frames per second, scientists record the fruit fly spin-and-hover shows performed daily at produce stands and their findings suggest that tiny changes in wing motion generate the torque required for these quick turns. This research, appearing in the April 18 issue of the journal Science published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, flies in the face of a long-held hypothesis and suggests that the inertia of the flyâs body as it turns, not friction, is the most critical factor that the aerodynamic force generated by the wings must overcome. Members of the space shuttle Columbia reconstruction team examine a piece of the left wing at a hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Monday, April 14, 2003.(AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove) Scientists and engineers around the world are working to build tiny flying robots capable of the rapid flight maneuvers of flies. Such robots could be used for surveillance, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, mine detection, and planetary exploration. But when the science behind the biological model changes, what happens to the technology designed to mimic the old scientific ideas? | |
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