Editorial: Look, up in the sky!

Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

When the sky is the limit, nature's winged creatures have conquered it from every angle. And more than 100 years after the Wright brothers first took flight, aerospace engineers still look to birds, bats and insects for technological innovation.

According to a recent story by USA Today, NASA and the military have researched the possibility of crafting airplanes that, like some birds, can alter the size and shape of their wings for more versatile flight under varying conditions. NASA also is trying to create computer sensors that mimic the abilities of some bats and birds to detect minute wind shifts.

Other scientists are studying owls, hoping to design an aircraft that makes no noise outside of an airport, USA Today reports. When hunting at night, owls can swoop down on their prey in almost complete silence, aided by fringelike feathers that mute the sound of air whipping through their wings.

From the tips of eagles' wings that lift upward to reduce drag, to the angled wings of the seagull that gave World War II fighter planes their gull-winged appearance, to the hovering capabilities of the hummingbird and insects that have been recreated with helicopters, nature has proved time and again that it - not mankind - is the world's first, and best, aerodynamics engineer. The secrets are there for those who take the time to look. And, as one Purdue University aeronautics professor told USA Today, "It's plagiarism if you copy a term paper, but it's absolute good design if you copy nature."