How to Fly - a Little Birdie Told Me
There are several words used to describe the how humans copy things in the natural world for our own use. I use biomimetics, others use biomimicry , and today I learned a new one: bioinspiration. Has a nice sound to it, don't you think? Today, we take a lesson from Bicycle Repairman . First successful flight of the Wright Flyer by the Wright brothers Image via Wikimedia Commons I was getting a mite playful for a moment. This is about Wright brothers, who had several interests, including bicycles. They were firm creationary Christians, and wanted to know how to fly. The Wrights were right in studying birds, and they were very meticulous and scientific in their studies of how the Master Engineer created flight. They also looked at the failures of their contemporaries. Ever see old videos of "early flight attempts" or "flight failures"? Some were just weird, and many seemed to think that flight is a matter of flapping up and down, sometimes with paddles