butterfly, it is one i used to see on my parents bud buddleia when i was a kid, they are black with this red stripe on the wings, and it is one of my favourite childhood memories. one of my favourite childhood memories- one of my favourite childhood memories. , , , memories. many people will be familiar with memories. many people will be familiar with that memories. many people will be familiar with that picture i memories. many people will be familiar with that picture we i memories. many people will be | familiar with that picture we are seeing there. what about the practical applications of this research. how can it help us? it might help us create some flying things. i gather some drones now are using this clamping mechanism because you get more movement for your effort, so i guess that is one application. i think it is more really for me about the wonder of the natural world, how they have evolved, and to such big, feeble wings can actually fly at 30 miles an hour and wings
scientists all a flutter. high speed cameras confirming what had been suspected for half a century. that butterflies don t just flap their wings but clap them together. their flexible wings bending to form a cup or a pocket of air. when they collapse, this thrust is even stronger and more efficient. it s only now, thanks to modern technology and a swedish wind tunnel, that we can see it. well, it s a challenge to work with any living, flying, freely flying animal. but with butterflies, maybe even more, because they are smaller, they are faster in their behaviour. difficult to predict their behaviour. and also, when flying them in a wind tunnel, it s difficult to get them to behave as you want to, when you want to, and also to fly where you want them to fly. for a long time, scientists wondered how these creatures could actually avoid predators because of their awkward shape. if you look at their wings, you can see they re very large
and broad compared to the size of their body and aren t considered to be very aerodynamic. but this technique of clapping and capping now appear to have given them an evolutionary advantage. now the thinking is this technique developed by the humble butterfly could be applied to modern technology, to make drones and underwater vehicles faster, travel further, and last for longer. laura foster, bbc news. joining us now is martin warren who is the head of development at butterfly conservation europe. i see you have got a smile on your face. ~ ., ., ., .,, . i see you have got a smile on your face. . ., ., ., ., i see you have got a smile on your face. ., ., ., ., ., face. what a fantastic bit of research! face. what a fantastic bit of research! so face. what a fantastic bit of research! so what - face. what a fantastic bit of research! so what do - face. what a fantastic bit of research! so what do we i face. what a fantastic bit of i research! so what do we know face. what a fantast
what had been suspected for half a century, that butterflies don t just flap their wings, but clap them together. theirflexible wings bending to form a cup, or a pocket, of air. when they collapse, this thrust is even stronger and more efficient. it s only now thanks to modern technology and a swedish wind tunnel that we can see it. it s a challenge to work with any living flying animal but with butterflies it s maybe even more because they are smaller, they are fast in their behaviour, difficult to predict their behaviour and also when flying them in a wind tunnel, it s difficult to get them to behave as you want to, when you want to and also to fly where you want them to fly. for a long time, scientists wondered how these creatures could actually avoid predators because of their awkward shape. if you look at their wings, you can see they are very large and broad compared to the size of their body and aren t considered
a new insight into one of the mysteries of the natural world, how butterflies fly despite being equipped with large, inefficient wings. they ve discovered that butterflies cup their wings when taking off. this forms an air pocket that pushes the insect forward at speed, helping it to escape predators. researchers believe the knowledge could prove useful in other spheres, such as making some drones and underwater vehicles more efficient. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: joe biden and kamala harris lead a ceremony to honour the 400,000 americans who ve died during the pandemic. president trump releases a farewell video on his last day in office before issuing his presidential pardons, including one for key former aide steve bannon. netflix got a big boost from the pandemic last year, as demand for streaming movies and television soared. the company now has more than 200 million paid members, up more than 30% from 2019. about 37 million people subscribed last year, including