9 / 64
2016 ANNUAL REPORT
| SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC
| 7
Science News
|
JANUARY 23, 2016
WONDERS OF FLIGHT
Hummingbirds are extreme athletes,
deftly darting between flowers. A
combination of high-speed filming
and computer simulations has
now revealed how the birds’ wings
manipulate the surrounding air.
Researchers have known that the
wings induce lift by generating what
are called leading-edge vortices
(shown as thick blue layers), but the
simulations highlight the true
complexity of air movement.