The discovery of a 127-million-year-old fossil in northeastern China is filling an important evolutionary gap between modern birds and the winged, dinosaur-like creatures that came before them.

Somehow during the history of Earth, life took to the skies. As these winged creatures evolved, they specialized and improved their flying abilities. Today, we have specimens like the incredible hawk moth, a hummingbird-like insect that can precisely control its hovering.

Owing to its distinctly bird-like features, Archaeopteryx is one of the most intriguing dinosaurs known to science. Since its discovery some 150 years ago, paleontologists have wondered if the Late Jurassic dinosaur could actually fly. New research suggests the answer is yes—but its flying style was unlike anything…

Switching its in-flight magazine Hemisphere to a lighter variety of paper that saved an ounce a copy has saved United Airlines 170,000 gallons of fuel a year, the L.A. Times reported on Saturday, citing an “internal message to employees.” Per the paper, the 11 fewer pounds a flight save approximately 170,000 gallons…

Even with the hours of preamble as I shuffle through the airport to my gate, flying is still an amazing experience for me. But taking off in a commercial airliner isn’t anywhere near as magical as the way Jean-Baptiste Chandelier takes flight in this stylishly-edited new video, which makes paragliding look as close to…

Your childhood fantasies of soaring through the air like Iron Man or Superman will seem far less fantastic after this sobering first-person footage of a drone racing alongside a moving cargo train reveals just how terrifying (and slightly nauseating) it would be to actually fly.

Most birds get all the lift they need to fly with the downward stroke of their wings—meaning there’s no upward force being produced as they raise them back up. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, produce lift with both their upward and downward wing strokes, creating air vortices that the tiny birds use to fly with…

Some of life’s simplest questions get swept under the rug for a long time—after all, the most widespread phenomena often require the most data to understand. Take the shape of the boring egg, for example. You probably thought eggs are was shaped the way they are so they won’t roll out of the nest or something. But a…

Tethering yourself to a giant kite that’s strong enough to pull you right off the ground seems a lot less terrifying when kitesurfer Sam Light takes to the skies. This first-person footage of a recent adventure lets you (safely) ride along as he effortlessly hops from pond to pond making it seem like humans were…

We all know the bloodcurdling sound of a bloodsucking mosquito that has made its way into our general vicinity. It’s a distinct buzz that immediately gets your attention. A team of researchers has finally cracked exactly how mosquitoes fly and according to their findings, its flight “is generated in a manner unlike…

Even when unlocking the very secrets of the universe, one must always put safety first. That’s why researchers at Stanford University 3D-printed a pair of tiny safety goggles before teaching a parrot to fly through lasers.