How Birds Can Teach Us to Build Better Airplanes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ม.ค. 2025
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How one researcher is turning everything we know about flight on its head...
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Vikram Baliga studies anatomy and movement of animals in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia. He examines how birds use their wings to generate force and carry them through the sky. Truly understanding the mechanics requires hands-on study - so Baliga sources bird cadavers from museum collections at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. It sounds morbid, but with a closer look, humans can learn how to build better aircraft or automobiles, using superior natural design informed by millions of years of bird evolution.
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I remember watching The wind rises by the studio Ghibli and how the protagonist (a plane engineer) got inspired by the curve of fish bones to design a wing.
That and Dr. Joe Hanson always saying how we as humans always have looked into nature for ways of improving science . Like he says: we can learn a thing or two from millions of years of evolution (I'm paraphrasing)
Yeah. Loved that movie! But that was fiction. I wish this video had gone into details about real plane design features inspired by bird anatomy. In practice, not in theory.
AS a former Fluid mechanics engineer, I must add the wing root to bird body transition. this will have a large influence on lift and stall mechanics. Unfortunately this requires access to a library with intact mounted birds, The University of Miami Biology Department used to have a very extensive collection of stuffed and skeletonized birds. You should check them out.
Dr.Vikram.
First of all I would like to thank you for the great research and explanation. But can you please tell that where can I find any research work paper for study and understanding?
Fascinating research y’all are doing here.
Birds due to their individual feathers have slotted flaps (aeronautical term) which gives them so much more lift per area than aircraft.
Not adding anything to the study of flight using the anatomy of birds. Disappointed.😕
How a guy admires birds and how he wishes we could build bird inspired airplanes...but I think this was disappointing...I expected more science and explanations...
I also expected less "like" in the conversation. People say "like" so often that I can't hear what they are actually trying to say. It's a great topic, and I studied aeronautical engineering, but I can't get past the likes. I wish I could
Agreed. Puff piece.
Yeah, lazy PBS Terra didn't even research this one. Although if you go back and look at some of the other videos, they have a similar problem. Seems like they do good interviews, but don't have a dedicated research staff. And sometimes the interviews turn bad because the scientist takes them for a ride to crazy town. They need a skeptic on staff, too.
Figures. Even tho we could easily teach each other the most advanced things we know, people would rather just blab on about nothing. It’s so common in the ‘education’ field. 🤦♂️ Is it so much harder to just make something informationally compact? That would be better for everyone
Dr. Baliga, Where can I find your work? (scientific papers, books)
Birds typically have incredibly light bones which allow wind currents to lift their relatively hollow skeletons into the air. How can we make our aircraft lighter (like a bird skeleton) without compromising structural integrity/durability?
Maybe magnesium alloys, highest strength to weight ratio known to mankind as of rn
We've already done a lot of research to that end - the first aircraft were made from wooden frames with canvas covers, because that was the lightest we had. Then we figured out how to make stronger, but light fuselages from wood, then metal. In modern times, composites, plastics and ceramics are seeing more use, which are lighter still.
At the same time, a lot of research has gone into developing the structures of aircraft so that they get more strength from the same materials, i.e. smarter construction methods, too. Just before WWII, monocoque hulls came about, eliminating internal spars in favor of an aircraft skin that would hold its own shape, for instance.
Using ultra light materials like nanotubes, graphene and Aerogel.
Really interesting video, same problem as GBS though (video is too short!) :D
What's GBS...?
@@PhysicsPolice Great Big Story, a channel on youtube
@@CybranM Oh, cool, thanks!
@@CybranM isn't gbs cancelled?
I really want to be interested in this. He seems like an awesome dude. But I just don't see the point of this video besides being a vanity piece. Please don't dilute your channel with this kind of fluff.
I just figured out how a birds wing works and how we can adapt my idea to every plane we have today.
All we have is the F14 tomcat and F111! 😊, I'm 72 rented cessnas for decades. I tell my friends it's like sitting on a sadle on the back of a 35ft pelican and with reins flying it around similar to riding horseback, 😊
He said "I" far too many times for this to be interesting. The only thing that I think was actual information was that birds that fly for long durations have less maneuverable wings that instead can lock in place to make it easier to fly long distances.
The best way of aerial transport in the future will not giant as today is. The future will small and individual. All including baggage and personas will travel on individual modules with wings like a hummingbirds. You simply need a a cabin with two wings moving fast, from some point to another. People can travel better and more fast with this remote controlled flying cabins, reducing the probability of accidents to the maximum expression as possible.
Fascinating
I found this to be an uninspiring puff piece not up to typical PBS standards.
Tamula vs darsha who would you choose
Hey love it also first here and to like
I feel sorry for almost ever single so called scientist, looking for the next big step in technological advancement. How obtuse one has to be to not see that we have already a lot of great technologies, but they don't translate to bettering human societies. We live in chaotic cities mostly, we hate our jobs, we have to keep up with machine's speed and therefore we are all suffering from anxiety, depression and other "modern" life illnesses. Not to mention pollution of the air, food, sound, etc...
The more tech we create at this point will only make society worst for most and better for a ever smaller few. So increasing the one thing that causes the most problems in our world which is social inequality.
The gap between technological development and healthy society increases at every single new tech discovery and no scientist seem to even be able to see this.
The ignorance generated by EGO is truly remarkable.
The only way to build better airplanes is to make sure they stop polluting our atmosphere. Everything else matters not.
And even that is a feat of its own, everyone tells companies this kind of crap everyday, saying it is easier than done. The magnitude in order to be able to transition to renewables or sustainable fuels is hard to do. Alternative fuels has already been made, mass producing them is the actual hard part which makes them expensive still.
Heyyo
frist