Not gone with the wind: Active microscale flight with highly porous bristled wings

The finesse of sub-millimeter insect flight with comb-like bristled wings raises intriguing questions, not only on fluid-structure interactions (FSI) but also on the mechanical behavior of the underlying, highly porous structures. Farisenkov et al. characterized the morphology and kinematics of one of the smallest flying insects, the featherwing beetle Paratuposa placentis. Their simulations of this beetle in flight quantified crucial aspects of its aerodynamics, explaining why porous bristled wings enable flight and how they produce unexpected speeds and accelerations.