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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Flight Path"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
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(90 seconds)
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READER SCRIPT
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EARNING THEIR WINGS... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. PROFESSOR KEN DIAL IS A BIRD-WATCHER--BUT NOT THE KIND WHO TROMPS THROUGH THE WOODS WITH BINOCULARS AND A BIRD BOOK. DIAL LOOKS AT BIRDS IN A LABORATORY WIND-TUNNEL THROUGH THE EYE OF A HIGH-SPEED CAMERA. HE HAS STUDIED THEIR MOVEMENTS FOR A QUARTER CENTURY--AND HAS COME UP WITH A NEW THEORY ABOUT HOW THE EARLIEST BIRD RELATIVES FIRST TOOK FLIGHT. BASED ON OBSERVATIONS OF MODERN BIRDS, DIAL THINKS THAT THE ELUSIVE SECRET OF FLIGHT MAY BE LESS COMPLEX THAN PREVIOUSLY BELIEVED. BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCKED TO TWO DIFFERING CAMPS ON HOW FLIGHT EVOLVED: ONE GROUP SAYS THAT IT CAME ABOUT AS A RESULT OF JUMPING AND GLIDING FROM TREES; THE OTHER SIDE BELIEVES THAT EARLY ANCESTORS OF BIRDS RAN AND FLAPPED THEIR APPENDAGES UNTIL THEY EVOLVED INTO WINGS. DIAL AND HIS TEAM ARE PROPOSING A THIRD "FLIGHT PATH": IN STUDYING SLOW- AND STOP-MOTION FLIGHT, THEY DISCOVERED THAT THE WING-ANGLE OF ALL BIRDS IS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME, RELATIVE TO THE GROUND--NO MATTER WHETHER THE BIRD GLIDES, CLIMBS, DESCENDS, OR RUNS UP STEEP SURFACES. THAT ANGLE IS A KEY TO THE NEW THEORY ABOUT EARLY BIRDS: THAT THEY DEVELOPED WINGS AFTER MANY GENERATIONS OF USING THEIR APPENDAGES TO QUICKLY PUSH THEMSELVES UPHILL, AS THEY RAN FROM PREDATORS. EVENTUALLY ONE OF THEM TOOK OFF IN GLORIOUS FLIGHT--NO DOUBT LOOKING FOR THE NEAREST CAR WINDSHIELD TO TARGET. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
