2016 Annual Report

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.

2016 ANNUAL REPORT | SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC | 7