October 6, 2015 — Fish and birds, when moving in groups, could use two “gears”—one slow and another fast—in ways that conserve energy, a team of New York University researchers has concluded. Its findings offer new insights into the contours of air and water flows—knowledge that could be used to develop more energy-efficient modes of transportation.
“Some beautiful physics is at work in schools and flocks, with each individual creating a wave in the fluid while also ‘surfing’ on the wave left by its upstream neighbor,” says Leif Ristroph, an assistant professor in NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences who led the study.
The study, which appears in the journal Nature Communications, employs an innovative methodology—one that mimics infinitely large schools or flocks within the confines of a New York City laboratory.