New York Times: David Lentink, with Michael H. Dickinson of the California Institute of Technology and colleagues, reports in Science that the wings of a maple seed generate a leading edge vortex—a spinning horizontal tunnel of air along the wing—as they descend. This vortex is stable, Dr. Lentink said, because it has a low-pressure core that reduces the air pressure over the wing, causing the wing to be sucked up. “It really increases the lift,” he said.
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