Dragonflies – insects that can fly further, higher and faster than any other
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Yes – and upside down! Dragonflies can fly further, higher and faster than any other insect, and their wings are a marvel of natural engineering. Each one can be operated independently and this provides such exquisite control that a dragonfly can dart off in any direction – even in reverse – and make rapid alterations to its flight path as it chases down its prey, or avoids becoming lunch itself.
High-speed cameras have revealed that dragonflies angle their bodies upwards to fly backwards, so that they are positioned vertically rather than horizontally. Rotating their body in this way effectively changes the direction of the force exerted by their wingbeats, propelling the dragonfly backwards. It may look ungainly but it’s surprisingly aerodynamic and efficient, allowing dragonflies to fly backwards for quite some time, and with just as much precision as forward flight. Being able to take off at this angle also allows for a quick getaway when perched in an upright position, darting away from danger.
And that’s not all – dragonflies also have an impressive self-righting mechanism to survive being knocked off balance and will perform a backflip to recover from being
It would be fair to say that a large proportion of the UK population is making the most of its relatively new-found personal freedoms but one key question refuses to go away – how long will the fun last for?
When it comes to enjoying the moment, I really am having great fun but am also feeling hugely conflicted at the same time.
During the past week or so of not having to work from my kitchen table,
I’ve entered the holiday spirit and behaved like a holidaymaker, visiting city and town centres, a nature reserve, restaurants, an adventure farm (which was exhausting as it sounds) and a cinema, to name just a few places. And for the first time since February 2020, we last week visited a soft play zone which, for the uninitiated, involves lots of red-faced children clambering over each other while excreting bodily fluids. That wasn’t something that I ever thought I’d be unexpectedly upside-down. They can even do this while unconscious and it’s all thanks to the ‘passive stability’ provided by the shape and stiffness of their wings. This natural response is similar to the way that planes are designed to glide if their engines should fail, and the biomechanics of dragonfly flight will no doubt provide invaluable insight for the design of future technology. comfortable with again, but seeing the look of pure joy on our little lad’s face convinced me that I’d made the right decision, even if Mrs Tapp still twitches nervously at the mere mention of the place.
One of the most popular narratives of the past 18 months is that it is our children who have suffered the most as a result of multiple lockdowns and subsequent restrictions, and it is clear that many parents are determined to make up for lost time. Although I’ve long been in the weneed-to-learn-to-live-with-it camp, there remains a constant nagging doubt in my mind, which, of course, is the intention of the government, who advised us to remain vigilant when Covid restrictions were lifted last month.
The trouble with this mind-how-yougo guidance is that it can be interpreted many ways, although many of those that I have, quite literally, rubbed shoulders with over the past few weeks have taken it to mean ‘the pandemic is over’ when it clearly isn’t. Don’t take my word for it as the government figures show that last week there were an average of roughly 31,500 new cases each day, with about 6,000 people being hospitalised with some sadly failing to make it home.
Like a healthy majority of supermarket shoppers, I still wear a mask while plodding down the aisles but there have been several times recently when I’ve ventured into other enclosed spaces while wearing a piece of fabric over my mouth and hooter and felt exactly how women who walk around with their skirt tucked into their knickers – once it has been pointed out them. While people haven’t stopped and thrown rotten fruit in my general direction, I have felt like the odd one out, but I continue to do my ‘bit’.
It’s not as if I’m particularly neurotic – I’m a great believer in a human’s ability to run off any type of injury, while I’m more than happy to stretch the five-second rule to a minute as long as the foodstuff in question doesn’t have a short and curly stuck to it.
Many of us predicted that hugging, handshakes and generally invading the space of others would be consigned to history but we couldn’t have been more wrong, as anybody who has recently visited a lively town centre pub on a Friday night will testify. Although I have missed supping pints with pals as much as the next harassed middle-aged dad, watching groups of friends prance around a packed tiny dancefloor singing Livin’ On A Prayer was surreal to say the least.
While life without restrictions is what I and many others had long hoped for, I can’t help fearing that the current situation will deteriorate to a point that society isn’t prepared to take, meaning that we all have to live our lives through our laptops again. I hope that I am wrong of course but it won’t stop me enjoying the fun while it lasts.