as small as a world and as large as alone

2:55pm July 15, 2013

cptnsexy:

science-junkie:

X-Ray Video Reveals How Bats Power Flight

Novel X-ray video of fruit bats mid-flight reveals a remarkably detailed look at the muscular and skeletal structure required for the mammals to take flight.

Using XROMM (X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology) technology, a team of scientists led by Brown University’s Nicolai Konow was able to better understand how bats manage to be the only mammal capable of sustained flight by capturing three-dimensional images of bone structure and movement patterns.

A big player in the bats’ ability to get airborne, the researchers learned, is the mammals’ capacity to store and recycle energy in the extra-stretchy material of their bicep and triceps tendons.

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Video: [x]
Image: by Stefano Milan.

They swim through the air. 

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