Brett Bailey
Brett Bailey
Professor Barlow
ENGL- 1302
1 February, 2015
If We Only Had Wings Can we fly? This question has been asked for centuries by hundreds of inventors and philosophers alike; some of who are discussed in the National Geographic article I read titled: If We Only Had Wings. The author of this article, Nancy Shute, writes about the trials, ideas, and achievements of inventors such as Leonardo da Vinci and the Wright brothers. However, the article is even more interesting because while describing the progression of personal aircrafts throughout history, she also depicts her flying experience while hang gliding. This article was very informative as well, with information ranging from the steps of flying a hang glider, to the science behind how humming birds are able to defy gravity. Overall I loved this article; it was short but filled with information and pictures that are able to tell stories. After reading the title of this article I instantly became curious about what biological changes a human being would have to go through in order to fly like a bird and whether or not someone had tried to make these biological changes. I expected to find the answer in this article and for the most part I was not disappointed. To my disappointment there was nothing about someone trying to change human physiology. However, in the article Nancy Shute quotes Bret Tobalske, a scientist who researched ruby-throated hummingbirds, when he talks about how hummingbirds can fly for 20 hours straight because of a large muscle mass percentage in their chest. Bret goes on to explain that if humans had the same muscle mass percentage, our chests would be ginormous. So this basically answered half of my question; the other half remains unanswered.
Professor Barlow
ENGL- 1302
1 February, 2015
If We Only Had Wings Can we fly? This question has been asked for centuries by hundreds of inventors and philosophers alike; some of who are discussed in the National Geographic article I read titled: If We Only Had Wings. The author of this article, Nancy Shute, writes about the trials, ideas, and achievements of inventors such as Leonardo da Vinci and the Wright brothers. However, the article is even more interesting because while describing the progression of personal aircrafts throughout history, she also depicts her flying experience while hang gliding. This article was very informative as well, with information ranging from the steps of flying a hang glider, to the science behind how humming birds are able to defy gravity. Overall I loved this article; it was short but filled with information and pictures that are able to tell stories. After reading the title of this article I instantly became curious about what biological changes a human being would have to go through in order to fly like a bird and whether or not someone had tried to make these biological changes. I expected to find the answer in this article and for the most part I was not disappointed. To my disappointment there was nothing about someone trying to change human physiology. However, in the article Nancy Shute quotes Bret Tobalske, a scientist who researched ruby-throated hummingbirds, when he talks about how hummingbirds can fly for 20 hours straight because of a large muscle mass percentage in their chest. Bret goes on to explain that if humans had the same muscle mass percentage, our chests would be ginormous. So this basically answered half of my question; the other half remains unanswered.