Hummingbird Versus Drone

It's just a short "Science Shot" from Science Magazine, but it has a big message. A new study on hummingbird wings compares their performance with our best intelligently designed imitator:

The study, published online today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, shows that the power needed to sustain a hummingbird midhover is highly dependent on the bird's wing aspect ratio. During the down stroke, wings with a larger aspect ratio (3.5 to 4.0 for hummingbirds) use significantly less p...