What Scorpions Have To Teach Aircraft Designers

First time accepted submitter elloGov writes "The north African desert scorpion, Androctonus australis, is a hardy creature. Most animals that live in deserts dig burrows to protect themselves from the sand-laden wind. Not Androctonus; it usually toughs things out at the surface. Yet when the sand whips by at speeds that would strip paint away from steel, the scorpion is able to scurry off without apparent damage thanks to the unique structure of its carapace. Dr Han Zhiwu of Jilin University and colleagues have found that surface irregularities based on the scorpion's exoskeleton could substantially minimize atmospheric dust damage to aircraft."

Comments

Re:What about drag

[berashith]

Mythbusters did it to a car, and increased gas mileage. This was just using clay. If someone used decent materials, there is likely a huge gain to be had in performance. Of course, the surfaces on a plane NEED to interact with the air, so too much disturbance may not be a good thing.

Re:What about drag

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was young a friend of mine, an aviation mechanic once told me the properties of how a plane flies. He then proceeded to say the armed forces ignore that and use the philosophy "put enough power behind it, anything can fly"

Re:That would be cool...

[iamhassi]

...if scorpions could fly.

G.

Exactly. How exactly does the scorpion using bumps on their skin to be less aerodynamic apply to airplanes? Planes already exist with "shark skin" texture to reduce drag, there was even a Mythbusters episode about it.

And why does the wikipedia article read exactly like this news story? "Androctonus australis is a hardy North African desert scorpion. Unlike Most other animals that live in deserts, Androctonus does not dig burrows to protect itself from a sandstorm. Instead, it can withstand sandstorms powerful enough to strip paint off steel, without any apparent damage."

Really? That's the best first three sentences for a encyclopedia entry of this creature? Other animals include a detailed description and locations they are found. Strange that the Wikipedia entry was created just 6 days ago.

Methinks slashdot and the economist has been duped by this "first time accepted submitter" elloGov