Flight

It’s been 75 years since renowned pilot Amelia Earhart mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, and her disappearance and ultimate fate continues to fascinate the public to this day. At this writing, an expedition to locate debris from Earhart’s plane is wrapping up near the island of Nikumaroro in the western Pacific. The expedition was prompted by new analysis of photographs of the area from 1937 that appear to show airplane landing gear partially submerged in the water.

For many years, scientists believed that bumblebee flight was aerodynamically impossible. Somehow, despite this “impossibility,” bees are great at getting around in the air! Over half a decade of scientific inquiry has created a better understanding of how the quick flapping of wings paired with a twist on the upstroke creates enough lift for a bee remain airborne. The scientific process leading to a better understanding of the flight of the bumblebee is a perfect example of how science works in the “real world.”