Like helicoptering maple seeds, tiny new fliers whirl gracefully as they glide. The miniature aircraft, which can be made as small as a grain of sand, could be dispersed by air over long distances.

PASADENA, Calif.—The twirling seeds of maple trees spin like miniature helicopters as they fall to the ground. Because the seeds descend slowly as they swirl, they can be carried aloft by the wind and ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Winged seeds called samaras grow on maple trees. These are seeds from the Japanese maple, _Acer palmatum_. AlessandroZocc/iStock ...

Researchers have developed a tiny robot replicating the aerial dance of falling maple seeds. In the future, this robot could be used for real-time environmental monitoring or delivery of small samples ...

Smoke particles in a wind tunnel illuminated with laser light around a freely flying maple seed reveal a prominent leading edge vortex. The visualization of the leading edge vortex on this and 31 ...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO)-- Whirligigs? Helicopter seeds? Or perhaps the scientific name – samaras -- for the silver maple seeds flying in yards this spring. Whatever you call them, some WCCO-TV viewers have ...

Scientists in Italy and Germany have drawn inspiration from nature to develop a new kind of compact flying thermometer. Mimicking the size, shape and aerodynamics of maple seeds, multiple copies of ...

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The seeds of dandelions, pesky and irritating as they are, bear an extraordinary aerodynamic property that allows them to be carried far by the wind. In contrast, the seeds of maple trees, despite ...

When wind or other disturbances detach winged maple seeds called samaras from their parent tree, they spin through the air—and can even spin when it's raining. Impacts by high-speed raindrops only ...