New footage shows what the insides of a flying insect look like whilst in flight (video in source)
9 replies, posted
[quote]Scientists from the UK and Switzerland have used very intense X-rays to film inside an insect's body as it flies.
The resulting footage - a 3D reconstruction made up of several X-ray snapshots - shows a blowfly's flight motor, the "muscles and hinges" that power flight.
Researchers say the insights could be useful for the design of micro air vehicles.
The results are published in the journal Plos Biology.
Dr Simon Walker from the University of Oxford's animal flight group, first author of the research, explained that the team used very fast, intense X-rays to record the extremely rapid movements. In the time that it takes a human to blink, a blowfly can beat its wings 50 times.
"The X-rays were also focused on to a very small area, which was necessary to achieve high-resolution of such a small object," Dr Walker told BBC News. "The blowfly thorax is about 4mm long."
The scientists tethered the tiny fly to a vertical mount, which they rotated as the insect was X-rayed.[/quote]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26747914[/url]
Video in the source.
That's wack
There's atleast one bug in that animation.
That's pretty cool. The colors bug me a bit though.
These puns are going to start to bug me.
I like you guys
The fly probably dropped dead of radiation poisoning afterward.
Bombarding the fly with radiation caused mutations, a Superfly if you will.
Well now I know
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;44375478]The fly probably dropped dead of radiation poisoning afterward.[/QUOTE]
It died for a noble cause.
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