Skip to main content
Log in

Fluid dynamics and control of insect flight

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Physics

View current issue Sign up to alerts

Insects have mastered flight to a degree that scientists are only now starting to comprehend. Itai Cohen and colleagues discuss some of the outstanding challenges and opportunities for studying this fascinating and beautiful behaviour.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Aerodynamic vortex pattern shed by a flying fruit fly.

References

  1. Ellington, C. P. et al. Leading-edge vortices in insect flight. Nature 384, 626–630 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Dickinson, M. H., Lehmann, F.-O. & Sane, S. P. Wing rotation and the aerodynamic basis of insect flight. Science 284, 1954–1960 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dickinson, M. H. & Muijres, F. T. The aerodynamics and control of free flight manoeuvres in Drosophila. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150388 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bomphrey, R. J. et al. Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable high frequency mosquito flight. Nature 544, 92–95 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sun, M. Insect flight dynamics: stability and control. Rev. Mod. Phys. 86, 615–646 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ristroph, L. et al. Discovering the flight autostabilizer of fruit flies by inducing aerial stumble. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 4820–4824 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Keennon, M. et al. in 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. 1–24 (2012).

  8. Ma, K. Y. et al. Controlled flight of a biologically inspired, insect-scale robot. Science 340, 603–607 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Itai Cohen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cohen, I., Whitehead, S.C. & Beatus, T. Fluid dynamics and control of insect flight. Nat Rev Phys 1, 638–639 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-019-0114-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-019-0114-7

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation