MAY 2025 BUMBLE BEES

 Many years ago, while following a career in Air Traffic Control, my professional knowledge of Theory of Flight included such bon mots as that, according to all the known laws of aerodynamics, a bumble bee was totally incapable of flight.  However, some wag noted that the bumble bee was just a simple insect with no knowledge of aerodynamics so it just went ahead and flew anyway.  I became an instant fan of the bumble bee and a lifelong admirer of stupid insects.

Many years later it was discovered that bumble bee had been programmed by its creator to use a principle of aerodynamic interference and two pairs of wings operating in unison to provide lift out of all proportion to its shape and weight and scientists and engineers copied the concept and produced heavy lift skycranes. Score for the creator and for me a new understanding that nature is a teacher and explains why I find myself so comfortable living in the midst of nature.