Flying Jewels Inspire New Technologies

One of the things I remember from growing up near a lake is the strange and wonderful dragonflies that would land on my toes while I floated in the lake on my inner tube. They would stop to rest from their hunt for deer files, mosquitoes and other annoying insects. The beautiful colors and patterns were each unique and fascinating.

They are considered beneficial insects belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta Anisoptera. It sounds like the name of an Egyptian god or goddess. Dragonflies are referred to as Flying Jewels of New York in the "Conservationist" magazine article of June 2011.

The dragonfly has a large head with bulging eyes, strong jaws, a long narrow abdomen, six legs and 2 pairs of transparent wings. The motion that has been copied by the helicopter and plane is their ability to move up and down, forward and backward and side to side simply by rotating their wings.

To reproduce, they drop their eggs on the surface of the water. The dragonfly then goes through an immature aquatic stage that can last for several years. They only live a few months after they emerge as adults. For more on the stages, how long they live check out the Dragonfly Site.

And they migrate! At least some of them do. Based on data generated by tracking 14 green darner dragonflies with radio transmitters, Princeton scientists have found that migrating dragonflies and songbirds exhibit many of the same behaviors. Green darners are among up to 50 species of dragonflies thought to be migratory.

What can scientists and engineers learn from the dragonfly? The Australian National University is studying their triplet of eyes or ocelli. They are testing their eyes to find out how they contribute to their exceptional flight ability. See this link for more info: http://www.eurograduate.com/arch_article.asp?id=2431. If you Google 'dragonfly inspired technology', you will find many interesting links to wind turbines, robots and more.

I love the way nature is an inspiration for invention, new technologies and biomechanics. Hopefully water pollution and destruction of our wetlands will not cause us to lose too many of these beneficial insects. After all, they have been around for hundreds of millions of years.

Photo credits and reference:

http://www.worldmostamazingthings.com/2011/05/amazing-dragonfly-insect-dragonfly.html