Taking their cues from the birds, Airbus engineers have flown a scale-model airplane that incorporates flapping wing-tips. Based on the structure of the albatross wing, the remote-controlled ...

Since the dawn of aviation, birds have been an inspiration for visionaries of flight. And now, engineers are once again looking to feathered friends to inspire the next generation of aircraft wings.

Since Leonardo Da Vinci first began observing bird anatomy in the late 1400s, designers have used birds as the inspiration for aircraft design. The science of biomimicry—solving human problems by ...