Stress lines

From Leonardo da Vinci to the Wright brothers, flight has inspired engineers more than any other form of animal behavior. Like any aircraft, an animal capable of active flight must possess three critical features: a light but powerful engine; wings capable of generating sufficient aerodynamic forces; and a control system to keep it from tumbling to the ground. The special properties of the muscles, wings, and brains that satisfy these requirements have made flying animals useful models in muscle biophysics, fluid mechanics, and neurobiology. The purpose of this primer is to provide an overview of key principles in these three salient areas of flight biology, and is motivated by recent technical advances that are beginning to unravel many long-standing problems. This progress in our understanding of flight biology illustrates the utility of integrative methods, because many key insights have emerged, not simply from a focused analysis of individual elements, but also through more comprehensive approaches that link problems across disciplines. Although flight research embraces a wide variety of different organisms, from dragonflies to flying dragons, I will focus on insects in general, and flies in particular, because they have proven particularly amenable to these interdisciplinary approaches.