Humans may build aircraft that fly higher and faster than any bird, but they haven’t yet matched the elegance of nature’s aviators. Where the animals can go from dive to swoop to glide with a flick of the wing, planes rely on clunky, complicated machinery to slow down, turn, or change their angle of flight.
Now, engineers with NASA and MIT believe they can match that aviary flexibility with a new kind of shape-shifting wing that twists and morphs, rendering today’s flaps, ailerons, and winglets obsolete. If it works, the system could make aircraft smoother, quieter, and more efficient.
