How To Be A Bat [Life in Motion]

A really interesting article on the movement of bats and the research that's going on. It also features a lot of slow motion video of bats in motion.

The problem with looking to bats for inspiration is that scientists are only starting to figure out bat aerodynamics. What’s really challenging to figure out, however, is the difference between the aerodynamics of birds and bats. Riskin and Swartz use lots of tools to find the answer. They paint bright dots on bats and then film the animals as they fly in wind tunnels. The biologists can then use computers to create models of the bat wings and calculate the speed and direction of each dot at each instant of flight. They can spray mist into a tunnel and then film the swirls the bats leave in their wake. From this data on real bats, bat researchers can then test out simulations on computers to see if they produce the same forces and swirls of air as they see in their wind tunnels. Full article...