On the Wing

On the Wing PDF Author: Dr. David E. Alexander
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199996776
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
"On the Wing is the first book to take a comprehensive look at the evolution of flight in all four groups of powered flyers: insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats."--Book jacket.

On the Wing

On the Wing PDF Author: Dr. David E. Alexander
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199996776
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book

Book Description
"On the Wing is the first book to take a comprehensive look at the evolution of flight in all four groups of powered flyers: insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats."--Book jacket.

Dinosaurs of the Air

Dinosaurs of the Air PDF Author: Gregory S. Paul
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801867637
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
This book synthesises the growing body of evidence which suggests that modern-day birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs of prehistoric times. The author argues that the ancestor-descendant relationship can also be reversed.

Taking Wing

Taking Wing PDF Author: Pat Shipman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684849658
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
In 1861, just a few years after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, a scientist named Hermann von Meyer made an amazing discovery. Hidden in the Bavarian region of Germany was a fossil skeleton so exquisitely preserved that its wings and feathers were as obvious as its reptilian jaws and tail. This transitional creature offered tangible proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. Hailed as the First Bird, Archaeopteryx has remained the subject of heated debates for the last 140 years. Are birds actually living dinosaurs? Where does the fossil record really lead? Did flight originate from the "ground up" or "trees down"? Pat Shipman traces the age-old human desire to soar above the earth and to understand what has come before us. Taking Wing is science as adventure story, told with all the drama by which scientific understanding unfolds.

The Evolution of Flight

The Evolution of Flight PDF Author: Georg Glaeser
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319570242
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book will take you on an exciting journey made up of texts and images. Spectacular, large-scale photographs printed on double pages and accompanied by explanatory texts will arouse the reader’s curiosity about evolution’s accomplishments in the world of flying: from the botanical air fleet (pollen grains, flying seeds...), over flying snakes and fish, to penguins flying underwater and humans rising into the air. Mathematician and passionate animal photographer Georg Glaser has joined forces with the experienced evolutionary biologist Hannes Paulus and the exercise physiologist and flight biophysicist Werner Nachtigall in order to approach this topic with words and pictures in a way that is both generally comprehensible and scientifically sound. Double-page by double-page, the book can be read in any order. Cross-references allow to jump easily from one double-page to another. Aside from the detailed introduction to each chapter, the text passages are usually independent from one another, and they discuss crucial moments in the evolutionary process. The double-pages provide additional information on bibliographical references and references to informative websites.

The Rise of Birds

The Rise of Birds PDF Author: Sankar Chatterjee
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 142141614X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
The most comprehensive account of the origin of ancient and modern birds—the "living dinosaurs." A small set of fossilized bones discovered almost thirty years ago led paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee on a lifelong quest to understand their place in our understanding of the history of life. They were clearly the bones of something unusual, a bird-like creature that lived long, long ago in the age of dinosaurs. He called it Protoavis, and the animal that owned these bones quickly became a contender for the title of "oldest known bird." In 1997, Chatterjee published his findings in the first edition of The Rise of Birds. Since then Chatterjee and his colleagues have searched the world for more transitional bird fossils. And they have found them. This second edition of The Rise of Birds brings together a treasure trove of fossils that tell us far more about the evolution of birds than we once dreamed possible. With no blind allegiance to what he once thought he knew, Chatterjee devours the new evidence and lays out the most compelling version of the birth and evolution of the avian form ever attempted. He takes us from Texas to Spain, China, Mongolia, Madagascar, Australia, Antarctica, and Argentina. He shows how, in the "Cretaceous Pompeii" of China, he was able to reconstruct the origin and evolution of flight of early birds from the feathered dinosaurs that lay among thousands of other amazing fossils. Chatterjee takes us to where long-hidden bird fossils dwell. His compelling, occasionally controversial, revelations—accompanied by spectacular illustrations—are a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in the evolution of "the feathered dinosaurs," from vertebrate paleontologists and ornithologists to naturalists and birders.

Quest for Performance

Quest for Performance PDF Author: Laurence K. Loftin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Airplanes
Languages : en
Pages : 547

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Book Description


Flight

Flight PDF Author: Stephen Woolford
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780233005744
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Witness the daring exploits and dangerous challenges that form the story of flight in this beautifully illustrated book, filled with rare photographs and historical documents. Published in the year that marks 50 years since the first flight of the Boeing 747 and of Concorde, it describes the early pioneers, such as the Wright brothers and Alcock & Brown, as well as the highly skilled engineers developing aircraft today. From the early hot-air balloons of the Montgolfiers to the complex technology behind military jets and space rockets, this book looks at how flight emerged as a new means of military combat and how it became the leading mode of international travel, all in the space of less than a century.

Drones

Drones PDF Author: Harrison G. Wolf
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315471396
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This book is an everything-included approach to understanding drones, creating an organization around using unmanned aircraft, and outlining the process of safety to protect that program. It is the first-of-a-kind safety-focused text book for unmanned aircraft operations, providing the reader with a required understanding of hazard identification, risk analysis, mitigation, and promotion. It enables the reader to speak the same language as any civil aviation authority, and gives them the toolset to create a safety risk management program for unmanned aircraft. The main items in this book break down into three categories. The first approach is understanding how the drone landscape has evolved over the last 40 years. From understanding the military components of UAS to the standards and regulations evolution, the reader garners a keen understanding of where we came from and why it matters for moving forward. The second approach is in understanding how safety risk management in aviation can be applied to drones, and how that fits into the regulatory and legislative environment internationally. Lastly, a brief synopsis of the community landscape for unmanned aircraft is outlined with interviews from important leaders and stakeholders in the marketplace. Drones fills a gap in resources within the unmanned aircraft world. It provides a robust understanding of drones, while giving the tools necessary to apply for a certificate of authorization, enabling more advanced flight operations for any company, and developing safety risk management tools for students and career professionals. It will be a mainstay in all safety program courses and will be a required tool for any and all individuals looking to operate safely and successfully in the United States.

Flights of Fancy

Flights of Fancy PDF Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Apollo
ISBN: 1838937862
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Have you ever dreamt you could fly? Or imagined what it would be like to glide and swoop through the sky like a bird? Do you let your mind soar to unknown, magical spaces? Richard Dawkins explores the wonder of flight: from the mythical Icarus, to the sadly extinct but spectacular bird Argentavis magnificens, from the Wright flyer and the 747, to the Tinkerbella fairyfly and the Peregrine falcon. But he also explores flights of the mind and escaping the everyday a through science, ideas and imagination.

Butterflies

Butterflies PDF Author: Carol L. Boggs
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226063171
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 784

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Book Description
In Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight, the world's leading experts synthesize current knowledge of butterflies to show how the study of these fascinating creatures as model systems can lead to deeper understanding of ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes in general. The twenty-six chapters are organized into broad functional areas, covering the uses of butterflies in the study of behavior, ecology, genetics and evolution, systematics, and conservation biology. Especially in the context of the current biodiversity crisis, this book shows how results found with butterflies can help us understand large, rapid changes in the world we share with them—for example, geographic distributions of some butterflies have begun to shift in response to global warming, giving early evidence of climate change that scientists, politicians, and citizens alike should heed. The first international synthesis of butterfly biology in two decades, Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight offers students, scientists, and amateur naturalists a concise overview of the latest developments in the field. Furthermore, it articulates an exciting new perspective of the whole group of approximately 15,000 species of butterflies as a comprehensive model system for all the sciences concerned with biodiversity and its preservation. Contributors: Carol L. Boggs, Paul M. Brakefield, Adriana D. Briscoe, Dana L. Campbell, Elizabeth E. Crone, Mark Deering, Henri Descimon, Erika I. Deinert, Paul R. Ehrlich, John P. Fay, Richard ffrench-Constant, Sherri Fownes, Lawrence E. Gilbert, André Gilles, Ilkka Hanski, Jane K. Hill, Brian Huntley, Niklas Janz, Greg Kareofelas, Nusha Keyghobadi, P. Bernhard Koch, Claire Kremen, David C. Lees, Jean-François Martin, Antónia Monteiro, Paulo César Motta, Camille Parmesan, William D. Patterson, Naomi E. Pierce, Robert A. Raguso, Charles Lee Remington, Jens Roland, Ronald L. Rutowski, Cheryl B. Schultz, J. Mark Scriber, Arthur M. Shapiro, Michael C. Singer, Felix Sperling, Curtis Strobeck, Aram Stump, Chris D. Thomas, Richard VanBuskirk, Hans Van Dyck, Richard I. Vane-Wright, Ward B. Watt, Christer Wiklund, and Mark A. Willis