Soaring birds — like osprey, eagles, falcons, even vultures — can stay aloft in the air seemingly forever, rarely flapping their wings. They glide along rising air currents in a way that has ...

Wind turbines may seem innocuous enough, but they have the potential to reshape the air birds fly through. In a recent Scientific Reports paper, researchers found that a gliding bird’s lift-to-drag ...

A frigate in flight. Some of the juveniles in the study stayed continuously aloft for more than two months. How do frigate birds—seabirds with a 7-foot wingspan—stay aloft for months at a time? Their ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Engineers are finding new ways to make wind turbines more ...