• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Whale Energy

Whale Energy

October 10, 2007
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/071010_sciup_whal.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Can whales solve the energy crisis? I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

At up to 20 feet in length, the flippers of the humpback whale are the largest of any marine mammal. Yet the whales use their flippers to maneuver easily around their prey. This is because the large bumps on the leading edge of the humpbacks’ flippers create extra lift and allow water to flow over them more efficiently. Now engineers have designed new windmill blades that mimic the unique shape of the flippers. According to marine biologist Frank Fish of West Chester University, preliminary tests have been promising.

FRANK FISH (West Chester University):
What these bumps tend to do is allow us to get more power out of the windmill blade and allow the blade to work at lower wind speeds.

HIRSHON:
Fish says the whale-inspired windmill design could generate large amounts of electricity in areas of low wind. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Climate & Weather, Energy, Engineering & Technology, Environment & Conservation, Genetics & Evolution, Marine Science, Materials Science, Wildlife
Previous Post:Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid
Next Post:Plant Gravity

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos