🦉 How the secret of owls' silent flight could upgrade our aircraft

Plus: China’s new hypersonic ceramic, Pentagon to lift lid on classified space tech                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 January 24, 2024 | [Read Online]( Owls mastered the art of aerial stealth and are able to glide in near silence through the air. Aviation engineers have long sought to mimic their acoustic-dampening capacity in our own aircraft. Now researchers in Japan have uncovered the muffling secret of muffled flight, bringing science closer to silencing human flight. Using simulations, scientists found trailing edge fringe feathers scatter airflow disturbances through two complementary mechanisms that simultaneously boost lift and reduce noise. Continue reading today’s [Must Read]( for more on how nature’s own noise cancellation works. 🚨 AI Logs is your essential update on all things artificial intelligence. To get the very latest insights every Wednesday, [subscribe now](. Good morning. I’m Tim, newsletter editor at IE. This is the Blueprint. Let’s get into it! Reading time: 5 minutes Did a friend forward this e-mail to you? [Subscribe ✉](  VIDEO OF THE DAY The first civilian aircraft that looks like V-22 Osprey Discover the skies with Leonardo's AW609 - where speed and elegance meet at 316 mph! IE+ SUPPORT INTERESTING ENGINEERING Invest In Science And Engineering Insider access to exclusive content, featuring riveting stories that take you right to the heart of the action. Engage with our thriving online community, dive into captivating science discoveries, and stay informed with our enlightening weekly premium newsletters. With IE+, quality reporting is more than just news - and it is Ad-Free. [Subscribe]( [HOT TOPICS]( - 💥 [Why this huge balloon-like space station was purposefully exploded]( - 🔭 [NASA monitors trajectories of 5 asteroids near Earth]( - 🔧 [Deal to fix US warships in Japanese shipyards deemed 'strategic sense']( - 😬 [Mother of all data breaches: LinkedIn, X, Telegram, Adobe named]( MUST READ 🦉 [Owl flight whispers secrets of silent jet design to Japanese researchers]( Using simulated 3D owl wing models, scientists pinpointed how trailing edge fringe feathers suppress airflow fluctuations and vorticity. Lightweight geometric patterns along the wingtips scatter turbulence-inducing interactions, enabling both silence and aerodynamic efficiency. Beyond solving a riddle that has perplexed biologists for ages, the biomimetic discovery could be applied as a template for upgrading drones, planes, wind turbines and other machinery prone to making a racket. [Read more >]( [INNOVATION]( 🔥 [China allegedly develops toughest hypersonic aircraft heat shield ceramic]([s]( China claims to have achieved a major advance for its hypersonic aircraft with a new porous ceramic insulator. The substance purportedly maintains its immense strength under extreme heat exposure, withstanding temperatures near 2,000°C. If proven viable outside the testing lab, the ultra-resilient lightweight thermal barrier could enable reliable material performance for next-generation vehicles during intense re-entry friction. [Read more >]( [MILITARY]( 🚀 [Pentagon to declassify some secret space programs to boost military edge]( The Pentagon plans increased transparency of classified space programs with a new policy that permits each branch to determine secrecy levels rather than conform to a single uniform standard. The disclosure push intends to accelerate innovation and wield it as an asymmetric counterforce to rising Chinese and Russian space activity. [Read more >]( JOB ALERT In this section you’ll find the latest jobs as featured on: [jobs.interestingengineering.com]( [Technical Production Control Professional]( at Fiserv Inc. Lincoln [Systems Engineer, Windows IoT]( at Hunter Engineering Company Bridgeton, MO [Signal Engineering Manager]( at Progress Rail Services Corp. Inc Hudson (US) [Manufacturing Engineering Manager]( at Neogen & Lansing, MI [See More Jobs >]( WEBINAR Dive into the future of robotics with us! Meet Peter Deng, behind DEEP Robotics' quadrupeds. Learn how these four-legged robots are redefining industries and academia. Sign up to this FREE WEBINAR today! [Sign Up]( Question of the Day Which natural phenomenon would you most like to see mimicked by technology? [Color-changing skin like an octopus]( [Mantis shrimp multicolor vision]( [Tardigrade resilience]( [Eagle-eyed perception]( YESTERDAY'S RESULTS We asked why so many national space agencies are competing to land on the Moon. Here are the results. 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ The Moon is so full of resources (30%) 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Simple national prestige (28%) ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ It's just coincidence (3%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Strategic, military motivations (39%) “Our findings [highlight] the validity of using these fringes for reducing noise in practical applications such as drones, wind turbines, propellers, and even flying cars.” Faculty of Engineering at Chiba University THINGS WE LOVE [[HOTO Compressed Air Capsule] Linksys Mesh Wifi 6 Router $48.99]( [[CIGMAN Dual Laser Distance Meter] Mrroute MR-M1 Mini PC $332.99]( [[TESLYAR Wood Phone Docking Station] DJI Pocket 2 $279.00]( [[Magnetic Levitating Globe] Ravidad Language Translation Device $129.88]( AND ANOTHER THING - [A new camera system reveals world through animals' eyes, 90% accuracy]( - [A new study sheds light on how tardigrades are near indestructible]( Need help with advertising? Reach 150,000 engineering and tech professionals. 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