Gearfuse

Seeing this video makes me hope that one day I’ll be flying in a giant robotic butterfly. Researchers in Japan are working on this small ornithopter, a flying device with wings that are modeled after those of a butterfly. The idea is to one day have commercial airplanes with flapping-wing flight just like birds.

Above is a high speed video demonstrating the small scale design of the ornithopter. It turns out that the most efficient forward flying wings are wings with micromolded veins flapping at 10 beats per second. I say we just clone ginormous insects and ride them like horses. If only we could get around that gravity thing.

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If you have $4200 lying around and a lot of free office space, may I suggest immediately purchasing this sweet desk made from an airplane wing. The desk is called Deborah and with curves like these, you’ll be falling in love with her the minute you plunk down half your savings on her. I wonder where they get the airplane wings to make these desks, though…

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