What do bats and skateboarders have in common?

David Pescovitz 12:25 pm Fri Nov 20, 2015

Bats and skateboarders have something special in common. They both use inertia to land their tricks which, in a bat's case, means landing upside down.

Researchers from Brown University used high-speed video of actual bats and also computer simulation to understand bats'"remarkable agility in flight, reorienting from a horizontal flying position to a heels-over-head roosting position and recovering from aerial stumbles with ease."

"Falling with Style: Bats Perform Complex Aerial Rotations by Adjusting Wing Inertia" (PLoS)

(Video via PBS NewsHour)

PLoS

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