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Author Topic: Flight  (Read 12967 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2014, 08:39:13 pm »


Outside of the TOTALLY FALSE assumption by the above scientist that flight is an ability that insects "evolved", it 's a cool video. There is ZERO evidence of transitional flight characteristics in insects, period. There are NO insects with partial wings for millions of years in the fossil record. But still the RELIGION of the Darwin persists.

The amazing thing about the above scientist's cognitive failings is that he describes in DETAIL how incredibly specialized fly sensors and wing anatomy and physiology are DESIGNED ONLY for flight, not walking, swimming or crawling.

Such Darwinian pretzel reasoning is breathtaking.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2022, 03:57:22 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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The Tiniest Flying Life Form on Earth
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2014, 11:32:19 pm »
December 22, 2014

Megaphragma is the TINIEST flying life form on Earth!

Megaphragma wasp is the size of a Paramecium! :o

This life form is so unusual, it has cells that exclude cell bodies around the nucleus that Eukaryotic (true) cells "normally" have. Scientists think that is so because "there ain't no room for cells with all that stuff in a critter that small".  ::)

But they WON'T say the obvious! That is, that it seems to have been DESIGNED that way from scratch; the size of a critter is a function of cell anatomy and physiology, not the other way around.

Are they going to say that 'millions of years of squeezing in tight places' EVOLVED the cell anatomy and physiology so it could EVOLVE a tinier wasp? That is REALLY reaching! 

That is NOT the way "natural selection" is supposed to work anyway. Supposedly, the "BIG" flies got killed off and the ones with the tiny cell machinery mutation survived. I don't think so.

WHY?

It's a chicken or egg problem for the Darwinists. Did this type of cell precede the more common Eukaryotes or did a wasp "mutation(s)" -( it takes a LOT more than ONE mutation to RADICALLY modify cell anatomy and physiology this way!) produce this exquisitely adapted parasite to be almost invisible to the host?

There is simply ZERO reason to be that small. There's lots of room out there and a plethora of larger prey that won't spot the wasp even if it is 10 times larger.    

Even if Megaphragma is paraded as the only living example of what Eukaryotic cells were like before they EVOLVED into the ones most Eukaryotic life forms have today, then why is it still here? 🤔

If it was SO SUCCESSFUL for over millions and millions of years or so, how come the BASIC cell anatomy and physiology model was 'changed'? This is proof of DESIGN, not evolution.
 
What we have here is "Moore's God's law of miniaturization of flying equipment" cells. Neurons are super tiny too!

So, are you gonna tell me this wasp Evolved from a NON-flying microscopic whatever/wasp? Hello? Those cells REQUIRE specific design to create that tiny wasp. It will not be able to fly without the microminiaturization of cell function. It would be too heavy and probably 10 times as "large" (no longer microscopic).

It would need a more advanced design for a larger size like the exquisitely designed Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) sensory package (some of them not understood yet like eyes separate and apart from the "normal" eyes and a sensor they believe is also related to flight), and two types of wing muscles, ALL SPECIALIZED for FLIGHT, not crawling, walking or swimming.

They are USELESS except SPECIFICALLY for aerial foraging and evasive maneuvers to avoid getting eaten while FLYING. Yes the reflex time is also valuable when they are perched but the sensory package for a ground based insect is much, simpler. When insects cannot MOVE fast because they don't fly, they have other defenses like gas and stink and sprays which are radically different from the rapid response motion detecting sensor package on flying insects. The whole ENCHILADA is more proof of DESIGN:


In summary, there is, apparently, no way an insect as small as Megaphragma could fly without the biologically designed microminiaturization of its Eukaryotic cell anatomy and physiology. It's AMAZING!
 
LOOK at how TINY the Megaphragma wasp is. It's just over 200 micrometers ( 200 μm):

If WE could microminiaturize OUR neurons, we could have orders of magnitude more processing ability.

I'm sure somebody in the MIC is "working" on it....



I still can't get past 100 gigaFLOPS. Need more Brain!   
« Last Edit: March 23, 2022, 05:31:05 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #17 on: April 08, 2015, 10:12:06 pm »
How Long Can Birds Fly without Stopping?  ???

Some migratory birds can fly non-stop for very long distances. Some birds are even able to cross oceans without stopping as they migrate. The record for the longest distance flown by birds without stopping belongs to bar-tailed godwits. These birds can fly 7,000 miles (11,265 km) without stopping to rest or eat.


Champion Migrator Bar-tailed Godwit

Every autumn, the bar-tailed godwits travel non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand. Previously, the record for non-stop bird flights was believed to be about 3,100 miles (5,000 km). The discovery about the distance flown non-stop by bar-tailed godwits broke this record and is an extraordinary example of endurance in birds.

More about migratory birds:

About 40% of all birds in the world migrate.

Migratory birds experience hyperphagia before migration; they eat far more than usual and store fat to last through their journey.

Penguins can't fly, but they do migrate, by swimming.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-long-can-birds-fly-without-stopping.htm



Perhaps the most astonishing of all bird migrations
is the one recorded in 2007, by the team led by biologist Robert Gill of the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. Gill used satellite tracking to follow the migration of shorebirds called bar-tailed godwits—and most notably a female godwit simply called "E7".

Bar-tailed godwits are powered migrants—which means that, like blackpoll warblers, they must flap their wings the whole way, without the luxury of soaring or gliding. Not only this, but unlike arctic terns or sooty shearwaters, powered migrants can never stop to feed or rest at sea.

On August 30, E7 took off from the coast of Alaska and without ever stopping to rest or refuel, she landed in New Zealand nine days later.

Bar-tailed godwits time their departure to coincide with favorable weather patterns, so E7 intentionally took advantage of tailwinds.  These helpful winds, combined with her own uninterrupted wing beats, allowed her to travel at an average of 35 miles per hour.

The total distance—7,270 miles flown entirely over the immensity of the open Pacific Ocean. With stored body fat as her only fuel, this shorebird weighing less than a pound made the longest recorded nonstop flight of any bird.
http://www.encountersnorth.org/wildexplorer/birdmigration/champion-migrants.html

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #18 on: June 07, 2015, 12:08:19 am »


Quote
One mystery of birds' flight is solved! 

The elegance of birds' flight, their seemingly effortless aerial turns and the softness of their landing, have been envied by many people.

From countless observations, it has been known that the birds use a small group of feathers, called "the alula," a thumb-like structure that is present at the bend of the wing, in slow and steep flight such as landing. Why do they use it? How the tiny feathers can help them land softly?   ???

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150605103008.htm
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #19 on: August 12, 2015, 10:00:02 pm »
The amazing butterflies 

The world of butterflies
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2015, 08:37:07 pm »


Do Dragonflies Catch Insects on the Ground?   

Dragonflies are efficient predators and can catch a variety of insect prey while on the wing. However, they are unable to hunt without flying, or even to walk at all, so a dragonfly with damaged wings is likely to starve to death.

Dragonflies start life as aquatic larvae, and will live in the water for up to two years before transforming into their adult form. Once they have wings, dragonflies become extraordinary flyers, capable of moving in all directions, of hovering and even of flying backwards. They can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour and will predict the movement of prey to intercept it, rather than just chase it down.

More about dragonflies:

•Dragonflies have the most complex eyes of any insect species, with over 30,000 facets, and can see more colors than humans, including ultraviolet light.

•Fossilized dragonflies have been found with wingspans of up to two feet across.

•Dragonflies are particularly good at keeping down mosquito populations.  ;D
A single dragonfly might eat hundreds of mosquitoes in a single day.

http://www.wisegeek.com/do-dragonflies-catch-insects-on-the-ground.htm
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #21 on: September 14, 2015, 10:54:31 pm »

Robot designers want to copy the hummingbird
by David Catchpoole

Engineers at Japan’s Chiba University who aim to build miniature flying robots want to copy bird wing flexibility and movement in their designs.1

They chose the hummingbird2 as their ‘wing model’ because its capacity to hover quite still while feeding on nectar means they can be studied more easily than other birds. “And they’re quite small,” explained researcher Masateru Maeda, who used high-speed cameras to capture the way that the hummingbird precisely bends and flexes its wings, adding, “Larger birds that cannot hover have to be studied in wind tunnels.”1

The researchers found that the movement of the primary flight feathers changes the shape and size of the wings to precisely control the lift they generate.

Because hummingbirds can hover quite still while feeding on nectar, you don’t need a wind tunnel to study them.

This research project is but one of many around the world where engineers are seeking to incorporate evident design features in nature into their own designs. Not just in the expanding field of micro air vehicles (MAVs)3,4,5,6,7 but also in a host of terrestrial and aquatic enterprises. E.g. ceiling-walking lizards and insects are inspiring scientists to make detachable super-adhesives, for applications such as window-cleaning robots;8,9 desert creatures are providing the inspiration for improvements to machines that have to traverse sandy terrain;10 fish and even single-celled organisms are inspiring better submarines.11,12

And just as no-one should dispute that the resulting robots and other machines have been intelligently designed, nor should anyone dispute that design in nature wasn’t ‘by chance’ either  (Romans 1:20). For more, see creation.com/biomimetics

http://creation.com/copy-hummingbird


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2015, 01:31:38 am »
Apus apus (Common Swift)

How Much of the Time Is a Common Swift in the Air?  ???

Young common swifts will stay airborne for two to three years  :o, landing only for brief moments to check out possible nesting sites. These birds are able to eat insects caught in mid-air and will drink, sleep and mate while flying.




Common swifts are the only bird that spends this much time on the wing without landing. Even nest building materials are gathered from airborne debris on windy days and are stuck together into a nest with saliva.


The common swift has feet that are ill-adapted to any kind of walking or perching, but can cling to vertical surfaces like cliff faces and the eaves of old houses where they commonly make their nests.

More about swifts:

The common swift lives in Europe and Asia during the summer breeding season and migrates to Central and Southern Africa for the rest of the year.

The common swift can reach diving speeds of up to 135 miles per hour.  :o 
We are called Swifts for a good reason. ;D


In order to stay safely out of reach of predators while sleeping, swifts can drift up to 10,000 feet high during the night. It's likely they sleep in a similar way to dolphins, by shutting down half of their brain at a time to rest.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-of-the-time-is-a-common-swift-in-the-air.htm
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #24 on: February 10, 2016, 09:43:57 pm »
 

Lady Bug Life Cycle
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #25 on: April 06, 2016, 10:27:15 pm »

Watch a dragonfly grow its wings in this wonderful time-lapse video

Melissa Breyer (@MelissaBreyer)

Science / Animals

April 4, 2016

When we see a dragonfly flitting around the garden or pond, the insect world's equivalent of a fairy doing some summertime magic, seldom do we think of how it came to be.

As it turns out, these graceful skimmers spend between one and five years under water in the nymph stage, where they are ferocious predators with, as Wired magazine puts it, incredibly fast weaponized mouthparts. Yikes.  ;D

When they finally emerge to take form as the dragonfly we know and love, they do so with a set of lumps on their backs ... these will become wings. And not just any wings, but the most powerful wings in the insect kingdom.

Thankfully they have a glorious life above water, because it generally only lasts long enough to mature and reproduce, from a few weeks to up to six months.

Smithsonian produced this fascinating video showing not only life under water and those super grabby mouthparts, but also the growth of a dragonfly's wings in time-lapse.

So cool, see it here:
 


http://www.treehugger.com/animals/watch-dragonfly-grow-its-wings-wonderful-time-lapse-video.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #26 on: April 07, 2016, 06:58:38 pm »
Why Butterflies Zig Zag "wildly"  ;)



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #27 on: July 05, 2016, 07:00:59 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: Great frigate birds are fantastic gliders. Even their wings seemed designed for light weight for maximum lift because they do not have the oils all other sea birds secrete to make their wings waterproof so they can rest on the ocean surface. Great frigate birds must stay aloft, and even catch its prey in the air. They follow tuna and dolphin around because the flying fish and others jump out of the water to escape the threat below. That's when the Great frigate bird becomes the threat from above.

PHYS.ORG
Biology Plants & Animals 

Great frigate birds found able to fly for months at a time

July 1, 2016 by Bob Yirka report


A juvenile frigatebird. Credit: Henri Weimerskirch CEBC CNRS

(Phys.org)—A small team of researchers with members from France, the U.K., Canada and Germany has discovered that the great frigate bird (Fregata minor) is able to stay aloft for up to two months at a time. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they affixed trackers to several of the birds as part of a two-year study, what they found, and even offer some ideas on how the birds manage to sleep. Raymond Huey and Curtis Deutsch, with the University of Washington in Washington State, offer a Perspective piece on the work done by the team in the same journal issue.

To learn more about the birds, the group managed to capture several specimens during their infrequent and short stays on land—they held on to them just long enough to affix extremely lightweight transmitters that were capable of monitoring GPS positioning, altitude, heart rate and acceleration in any direction. That allowed them to track the movements of a variety of birds and how much energy they were exerting.

In analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that the birds were able to stay in the air so long for two reasons; the first is that the expend very little energy because they rely on updrafts to keep them aloft. The second reason is because when they do eat, they simply swoop down out of the air to catch a fish that has jumped out of the water to avoid a predator from below. They have to be careful though, because they do not have waterproof wings.

In charting their flight patterns, the team found that the birds travel incredible distances—sometimes covering up to 250 miles in a single day. They also found that the birds were able to take advantage of another type of updraft when need be, they would slip under a cumulus cloud and allow themselves to be very quickly pulled upward (up to 5 meters per second), without having to flap their wings a single time. Such sudden elevations could take them as high as 4,000 meters, where the air is extremely thin, and the temperature freezing. From there, they would glide down for hours, until reaching another updraft. 

(EXCELLENT VIDEO at article link) Credit: Aurelien Prudor / Henri Weimerskirch CEBC CNRS

The birds live in the air over the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which means they are subject to the doldrums, but they have, the team found, discovered a means for handling them as well —they simply hang around on the edges taking advantage of the updrafts in the small clouds that develop around the edges.  ;D

The birds are able to glide so well, the team notes, because they have the least amount of body weight distributed over the total area of their wings of any bird.  :o    They also suggested the birds might actually sleep for just minutes at a time as they are carried effortlessly up into clouds.
 
Explore further: Study shows alpine swift can stay aloft for 200 days

More information: H. Weimerskirch et al. Frigate birds track atmospheric conditions over months-long transoceanic flights, Science (2016). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4374

Abstract

Understanding how animals respond to atmospheric conditions across space is critical for understanding the evolution of flight strategies and long-distance migrations. We studied the three-dimensional movements and energetics of great frigate birds (Fregata minor) and showed that they can stay aloft for months during transoceanic flights. To do this, birds track the edge of the doldrums to take advantage of favorable winds and strong convection. Locally, they use a roller-coaster flight, relying on thermals and wind to soar within a 50- to 600-meter altitude band under cumulus clouds and then glide over kilometers at low energy costs. To deal with the local scarcity of clouds and gain longer gliding distances, birds regularly soar inside cumulus clouds to use their strong updraft, and they can reach altitudes of 4000 meters, where freezing conditions occur.

Journal reference: Science search and more info website

http://phys.org/news/2016-07-great-frigate-birds-months.html
« Last Edit: July 05, 2016, 08:19:37 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #28 on: November 23, 2016, 06:31:31 pm »

Why Don't Birds Ever Collide?

You’d think that with all the flocks of birds navigating the sky, there would be the occasional head-on collision. But birds are highly skilled aviators with fast reflexes -- and a good understanding of what to do when two are on the same flight path. A recent study at Australia’s University of Queensland found that birds appear to know to veer right if another is headed straight at them.

The researchers tested seven male budgerigars (also known as “budgies” or parakeets) in a 70-foot (21.3 m) tunnel over a four-day period, and recorded zero mishaps. About 85 percent of the time, the birds veered right, and often adjusted their altitude to avoid mid-air crashes.


The aerial rules of engagement:

•In the study, the birds rarely flew at the same height, suggesting that individual birds may have specific altitude preferences.

•Interestingly, aircraft pilots are taught to veer to the right when they perceive an imminent head-on collision with another aircraft, said Mandyam V. Srinivasan, head of the research group.

•Birds are more prone to collisions with man-made obstacles. Sometimes, birds fail to see wires, especially near dawn or at night. Reflections from glass windows can also fool them, sometimes with deadly results.

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-dont-birds-ever-collide.htm



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Flight
« Reply #29 on: December 17, 2016, 06:51:40 pm »

Which Bird Can Glide the Farthest?


The wandering albatross is known for its ability to fly at great speeds and go long distances with very little effort. This seabird is capable of traveling 10,000 miles (16,093 km) in a single journey and circumnavigating the globe in as little as 46 days. Scientists have long wondered how this fantastic flyer can travel up to 600 miles (966 km) a day without flapping its wings.


The secret is its mastery of “dynamic soaring,” which involves gaining height by angling its enormous wings while flying into the wind, then turning and swooping at speeds as high as 67 mph (108 km/hr).


A fast flyer on endangered list:

•The albatross’ lifespan is roughly 60 years and its wingspan is the widest of any bird -- up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet).


•While the albatross has existed for about 50 million years, all 22 species are now endangered. :(  The birds frequently get caught in baited fishing lines, resulting in 100,000 deaths a year.

•The idiom “having an albatross around your neck" is attributed to the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the poem, a sailor brings bad luck to his ship and crew after shooting an albatross. When the ship loses wind near the equator and runs out of water, he’s forced to wear the dead bird around his neck as punishment.

http://www.wisegeek.com/which-bird-can-glide-the-farthest.htm
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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