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University of Maryland Bat Research Promises New Aircraft Speed Detectors

*Tiny hairs on bats’ wings act as speedometers*

COLLEGE PARK, Md.- Anyone watching bats skillfully maneuvering through the air to catch their dinner is impressed by how they quickly change direction and speed. Now researchers in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland believe they have uncovered one of the secrets of bats’ aerodynamic prowess: rows of microscopic, domed hairs on their wings that might act like speedometers and stall indicators.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Susanne Sterbing-D’Angelo and her colleagues have found empirical evidence for what researchers have long suspected: the tiny domed hairs function as arrays of sensors that transmit airspeed information to bats’ brains, helping them control their flight and avoid stalling. (more…)

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