Science Tries to Explain Tiny Super Heroes

Hollywood is fascinated with superheroes now, unlikely creatures who overcome adversity to do good in the world, using super powers and abilities.  Like Iron Man, Superman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Johnny Depp.  Oh, well, anyway....

CGI, computer-generated images, dominate blockbuster movies to an extreme, with high drama, ridiculous odds stacked against determined good guys.  Their bodies are transformed from weak and powerless to blazing strength or unusual powers with which they can overcome their mortal enemies.

I was back in my garden today and noticed a few superheroes right here in Pacific Grove.  I'm talking about bugs.  Butterflies and bumblebees.  Yep, unsung heroes flitting around right under our noses every day.

Butterflies are pretty, but it's amazing that they can fly; it goes against all aerodynamic design principles.  Bumblebees, same thing.  Not really meant to be flying at all if you look closely at them.  I mean, compared to a peregrine falcon divebombing at 120 mph, a bumblebee or a butterfly is darned close to being laughable.  But, they end up flying hundreds of miles on migration routes.  They can walk up walls, eat pollen and turn it into energy and they start off life as a pupa, for goodness sake.  

If you look at wing design and body weight, bumblebees are supposed to be, well, not flying.  Their wings are stubby transparent and have to flap like the devil in order to just lift off.  But, fly they do.  And they make honey, which in my book is equivalent to any miracle performed in biblical times by anyone.

I saw a chart once that showed how efficient each and every flying or moving machine is.  Bicycles, jets, cars, trains, bumblebees were among many machines measured.  It compared how much energy it takes for the thing to go forward a measured distance, like say 50 feet or so.  A bicycle can coast, just rolling forward almost without effort, using less energy than it takes to walk on foot.  A jet is fast but it costs a fortune to fuel up.

A bumblebee is an efficiency disaster.  It's fuzzy, round, heavy and its wings are not long, nor do they provide lift.  A butterfly is something else altogether.  Watch one fly and you see Attention Deficit Disorder in action, but it's pretty, so they get away with it.

Scientists, who hate not to know things, have mapped out how a butterfly's wings work when they flap and how it is that they can actually move anywhere intentionally.  I'll bet that took patience.  They concluded that the butterfly is shoving air into a whorl of air and then using that to push themselves forward.  Very similar to making your own tornado which blows you forward, but on a teeny tiny scale. Definitely not fuel efficient, but effective enough that butterflies are making it work all over the world.

But, they migrate hundreds of miles, sometimes thousands.  We have famous migrating butterflies in our town ("Butterfly Town, USA!") called Monarchs that come from Mexico.  I personally think I would not be able to get from here to Mexico very easily if I had to walk under my own power.

Next butterfly you see, take a close look if it will let you.  I'm telling you, you do not need computer-generated imagery to get super power action to watch.  A butterfly or bumblebee is a tiny super hero, wings beating like mad, almost no brain on board, doing things humans can only dream of.  Just one of those wonders of nature we almost always overlook, ready to amaze us if we notice.