Without the aerodynamic forces of lift and drag, aircraft would be unable to fly, wind turbines would not spin, and countless other machines that we depend on every day would not work. What, exactly, ...

Even in 1800, it was understood—by at least one person, a certain George Cayley—that two forces, weight and drag, were antagonistic to flight and that there must be two corresponding forces to ...

Aerodynamics explains how airplanes fly through the interplay of four fundamental forces: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. Lift opposes gravity, thrust propels forward, and drag resists motion. Pilots ...

Uplifting structures: the denticles are inspired by the shortfin mako shark. (Courtesy: James Weaver/Harvard University) A shark skin-inspired design can dramatically improve the lift of an aerofoil, ...

Future aerial design may owe a nod of thanks to five parrotlets flapping around in an instrumented flight chamber at Stanford University. They revealed that counter to conventional understanding of ...