Flies actually do fly... (by Captain Obvious)

[Jake the Dog]

who would have thought:

Scientists in Switzerland have finally confirmed that flies can actually fly.

see: http://www.wixt.com/entertainment/w...ntent_id=60A0CF18-B819-4506-B9C6-726BEDDB17C5

someone needs to create a "duh" award and give it to these guys :roll:

 

[Mercutio]

I remember listening to a couple of math majors in my CS classes complaining that "prove 2" was an obscenely difficult thing to do.

It took Stephen Hawking to prove that time moves forward.

Science doesn't work if everything is assumed. Sometimes the assumptions have to be proven, too.

 

[Tannin]

Typical moronic journalists. They don't even provide the names of the authors, let alone the title of the paper so that you can read it for yourself.

There are actually some major problems involved with the physics of small flying creatures. Once you get doen to a certain scale, the (reasonably well-understood) rules of orthodox aerodynamics do not apply. There are a number of fields where this stuff is of practical importance. (Not t o mention its tremendous import for the theoretical underpinning that allows us to understand things like the evolution of winged creatures in the first place.)

An obvious example is the development of very small UAVs (unmanned aerial vechicles) for military and non-military purposes.

Or, consider the flying head used in rotating magnetic storage - this too is a very small object that we need to fully understand the aerodynamics of if we are to get the best performance out of it.

 

[Howell]

Or, consider the flying head used in rotating magnetic storage - this too is a very small object that we need to fully understand the aerodynamics of if we are to get the best performance out of it.

It also has applications for fluids of different densities. Like say water or liquid hydrogen on another planet. IIRC, as the density of the fluid deceases the departure from normal fluid mechanics phenomena happens with larger objects.