will we ever be able to attatch wings to ourselves and fly, you nkow like a bird but not like in a plane?

Question: will we ever be able to attatch wings to ourselves and fly, you nkow like a bird but not like in a plane?

Asked by to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: General. This question was also asked by .
- Tom Hartley answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  Yes, I think this is possible and something along these lines has already been done (I am sure I’ve seen a video). But I don’t think we’ll be able to take off or power ourselves by flapping; not enough muscle power and our bones are far denser than birds – we’d have to use an engine, or at best some sort of pedal power combined with aerofoil wings or a gas filed balloon to provide lift. Remember I am a psychologist and biologist by training, so I am not an expert on any of this. It could easily be wrong.
- Stephen Curry answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  Oh, wouldn’t that be great? Think of the bus fares we would save!
  
  But alas I think it’s not possible – the human body is too heavy and underpowered for this to work. It has been possible to build a man-powered plane but that has fixed wings – I think they even managed to fly across the English Channel in it.
  
  But flapping requires a lot of energy just to get airborne at the beginning – look at how hard swans have to work for lift off. Birds also have the advantage that some of their bones are hollow (I think!), which reduces their weight.
  
  It could be done by genetic engineering perhaps but would the resulting creature be human?
- Pete Edwards answered on 17 Jun 2010:
  
  I guess you could say we can already do this if you count hang gliders or para wings.
  I’m not sure if we’ll ever do any better than that but who knows.
- Steve Roser answered on 17 Jun 2010:
  
  There are some really crazy people who wear squirrel suits which don’t flap but are really quite amazing
- Marieke Navin answered on 17 Jun 2010:
  
  Birds have the advantage of being light because they have mostly hollow bones. We are too heavy and I don’t think we’d be able to flap our wings fast enough – we’re just not designed that way

Comments

smokeyjoe commented on 17 Jun 2010:

i think it would actually be possible if you couoold get well developed muscles and large enough wings i would be possible to mabye glide but not actually fly

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tara commented on 21 Jun 2010:

flying would be cool!

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Question: will we ever be able to attatch wings to ourselves and fly, you nkow like a bird but not like in a plane?