Birds have inspired human flight for centuries, but Shabnam Raayai thinks they can also offer lessons in reducing energy consumption. A fellow at the Rowland Institute at Harvard, Raayai works to ...

How does an aircraft weighing tens of thousands of pounds lift off the runway and remain stable while climbing, turning or descending through turbulent air? The answer lies in physics — in the ...

"From a physics point of view, the limitation is the speed of light," he said. "The challenge is not only how fast we can go, but do we have materials that will withstand the speeds we want to go?" ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Airplane flight is one of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century. The invention of the airplane ...

Different insects flap their wings in different manners. Understanding the variations between these modes of flight may help scientists design better and more efficient flying robots in the future.

Prasoon Suchandra (left) and Shabnam Raayai used high-speed imaging to capture how different flight arrangements affected each object’s drag. Credit: Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer Prasoon ...