The Intricacies of Flight and Intelligent Design

Man has always admired the flight of birds, bats, and insects. It was only after years of hard work and brilliant engineering that finally Wilbur and Orville Wright understood the issues of balance and control involved in powered flight. They carefully watched birds in flight before testing wings with a similar aerofoil structure and successfully flying their machine on a cold winter day on December 17, 1903 in North Carolina.

In this webinar we first look at the aerodynamics of birds and insects and show the fascinating detail of flight in the natural world which inspired those early pioneers. From the microscopic details of feathers, to birds’ unique bone structure and breathing system, to their special muscles and extraordinary agility, birds are perfectly designed for flight. Perhaps even more remarkable are insect wings that are made from scales or membranes, and it is a staggering natural wonder that these creatures start off as caterpillars or nymphs in water - truly astonishing.

With flight you cannot afford to get it wrong! The necessity for many parallel mechanisms all to be in place at the same time gives the lie to the supposed evolution of such creatures from primitive ancestors.