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Fire damage from the Cold Springs wildfire on Mount Adams near Trout Lake, Washington

October, 2018

Sunset (by Matej Paluh)

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BRAIN FREEZE!

Animal snaps

The secret to the dragonfly’s backwards flight

Dragonflies are acrobats of the sky. They can fly upside down, turn 360° on a dime, and fly more than 55 kilometers per hour. They can even fly backward with as much skill as they fly forward. Now, researchers have figured out how they execute this tricky talent.

Scientists captured more than 40 dragonflies in the wild and placed dots on their wings to record their movements. They then let the insects go in the lab and recorded them with high-speed cameras.

When the scientists analyzed the videos, they discovered that dragonflies angle their bodies upward, like a helicopter, when they fly backward. They use their wings to pull back with the same amount of force they use to propel themselves forward. Flying backward is surprisingly aerodynamic for the insects, which don’t use any more energy than when they fly forward, the team reported last week in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

| Darkest Edge | Badlands National Park.

Space-Grown Crystals May Lead to More Efficient Drug Development

The International Space Station is a perfect environment for creating protein crystal structures for research.

In microgravity, protein molecules form more orderly, high-quality crystals. Studying these structures helps scientists understand their function and contributes to development of more effective treatments for diseases.

Experiments often need more than one try to generate ideal crystals, though. Researchers may have to return samples to Earth for analysis and then try again on a later mission on the space station.

Scientists are testing new methods of growing crystals that allow crew members to observe imperfections, make real-time adjustments, and try growing them again right away. This dramatically reduces the time and cost of conducting experiments aboard the space station and opens up the orbiting lab to more users. More efficient use of time and resources can produce research results in less time and lead to development of better drugs sooner.

Learn more @ISS_Research!