Slashdot Mirror
Howto - Flying Snakes
Ant writes "Wired News' Furthermore mentions a University of Chicago researcher finally figured out exactly how the limbless reptiles pull off their amazingly effective bird imitations. 'Despite their lack of winglike appendages, flying snakes are skilled aerial locomotors,' said biologist Jake Socha. Here's how: First, they flatten their bodies from head to tail, making themselves 'Frisbee-like in form,' Socha said. Then, as the snake drops (or leaps!) from a tree branch, it sends S-shaped waves through its body, steadying itself as it glides through the air. One species can even turn mid-flight. There is more information, photographs, and even short QuickTime video clips on Jake's Flying Snakes Home Page."
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
for the link to quicktime. I've been looking all over for that...
OK... I hated snakes BEFORE they could fly.
*shudder*
$0.02 (CDN)
But that server is going down like a stone...
I stole this Sig
so much as plummet."
-Monty Python
(Ok, it was sheep. but after watching those videos, I think it fits.)
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Badgerbadgerbadgerbadger...
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
Just wait till you see the one's that can swallow a man whole.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
The secret to flying is throwing yourself at the ground and missing. Full quote
Amazing how familiar this seems. Almost as if it had been on Slashdot yesterday.
...that no-one ever decides to cross one of these things with a cobra...
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
Cool, I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see them for a few days.
I'd never even heard of these guys, and I've got corn snakes, and various species of boas and pythons in my basement.
Now I just need a nice big arboretum to stick some of these little guys in.
And a lab so I can put that DNA in a some venomous species. Better than sharks with frickin' laser beams!
I tought that this was supposed to be an howto. What am I to do with the snake and dead pigeons now?
*thoughtful pause*
You know, has anybody come up with a remote-control steerable airfoil that can be worn by cats? It has to be something that they can't wriggle out of in a panic, as might be the case if they're released from the top of a fully-extended crane. I just happen to know a certain adventurous feline who loves flying.
Now that would make for some entertaining cinema.
"OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
No, the only person dumber than the one who posts this kind of garbage is the one who responds to the one who responds to it. But not the person after that.
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And thou shalt fling thyself from trees in a pathetic attempt at flying, and thou shalt hurtle towards the earth faster than thou canst say, "Holy Crap!", and men shall laugh and point fingers and cry out, O, silly snakey pooh! Erm, "paraphrased" from Gen 3:14
'Flying Snake Howto' pfft.
I was all pumped up for a meat-modding exerciose that told me how to convert my existing snake into a flying one with cool neons and shit.
It's just a stupid science article.
You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly, but I bet you ain't never seen a snake fly!
Seeing snakes trying to fly, or seeing humans running *towards* them like their life depended on it.
"Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
Well... in World of Warcraft they do exist according to this screen capture. [grin]
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
nuf sed
Table-ized A.I.
Because then:
1. A lot of beautiful women would owe me sex.
2. Cleveland would win the World Series.
3. My boss would make me a vice president.
4. My dotcom options would be valid and profitable.
5. Slashdot posters would be lucid and intelligible.
6. George Lucas would retire the StarWars franchise.
7. Microsoft would GPL their entire code base.
8. SCO would fully support OSS once again.
9. The RIAA/MPAA would make financial restitution to all their victims.
10. ???
11. Profit-...! Umm, where was I again?
Solomon Kevin Chang
"Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
Stupid flight cancellations...
People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
I've found that anything flies if you throw it hard enough.