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…
Bao Bao the giant panda is on her way to China today and National Zoo Director Dennis Kelly only has one thing on his mind: smokin’ hot panda sex.
In 2012, designer John Collins constructed a paper airplane that flew an astonishing 226 feet, establishing a distance record that still stands. A new video demonstrates the steps required to fold your own version of this record-setting paper-based aircraft.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard the most metal flight of your lives. Let’s do some sky crimes.
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.
All hail the Brazilian free-tailed bat, which has just claimed a new flight speed record for all mammal-kind.
Flight is one of those evolutionary wonders that’s hard to fully appreciate with two squishy eyeballs and a linear sense of time. But we’re no longer limited to what nature gave us, thanks to the wonders of photo editing. As Barcelona-based photographer Xavi Bou shows, a few simple tricks can reveal the dizzying…
I hope you were lucky enough to catch the Perseid Meteor Shower last week. If you were watching it from the Spanish island of La Palma, a few of those streaks might have actually been these maniacs in wing suits.
Hummingbirds are some of the most sophisticated fliers on Earth, weaving in and out of branches without so much as rustling a leaf. Now, biologists have discovered a new mechanism these feathered helicopters use to avoid collisions—and it could help us build better drones.
Is this a look at the future of war, or an attempt to set a new world record?
Sweden’s Lund University is studying bats to figure out, among other things, how they fly so well with those big ears in the way. Turns out their unique “design” might be a good blueprint for helping drones make low-speed maneuvers.
After taking off from Hawaii at 6:30am, pilot Bertrand Piccard reported that he felt great after a day of travel, and after a total 62 hours of flight time, he successfully landed at Moffett Airfield, California.
Throughout its history, NASA has not only been responsible for developing spacecraft, but also cutting-edge aircraft that pushed the boundaries of technology and flight. Now, they’re getting ready to do it again.
The BBC recently released a documentary called Super Powered Owls, which looks at how owls fly. Part of the program includes the story of Luna and Lily, two young Barns owls who are learning to fly for the first time.
Don’t read this if you’re about to board an airplane. A new report by the Department of Transportation warns that US pilot training no longer helps airline pilots maintain the ability to fly commercial flights manually, because of the surfeit of autonomous technology inside the cockpit.
Strap the Roman visitor into the passenger seat of something like this.
