Samuel Fabian/Lin Lab
When falling through the air in an upside-down position, dragonflies do backwards somersaults to return to an upright stance. They do this even when they are unconscious and – if their wings are propped open – when they are dead.
These findings suggest that dragonflies are equipped with a potent physical design that keeps them right side up and airborne without any real effort. Such a passive flight-stabilisation mechanism could inspire better designs for small aircraft like drones, allowing for good stability and manoeuvrability “with less computational effort”, says Samuel Fabian at Imperial College London. “Passive stability lowers the effort requirements of flight, likely influencing the evolution of the dragonfly’s shape.”