Owl-inspired coating could lead to more efficient wind turbines

The team developed the material by carefully studying how owls hunt and fly in silence and used high-resolution microscopy to examine owl feathers in fine detail.

They observed that the flight feathers on an owl’s wing have a downy covering, which resembles a forest canopy when viewed from above. In addition to this fluffy canopy, owl wings also have a flexible comb of evenly-spaced bristles along their leading edge, and a porous and elastic fringe on the trailing edge.

Professor Nigel Peake of Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, who led the research, said that the unique structure of the wing gives it some very interesting properties. “No other bird has this sort of intricate wing structure,” he said. “Much of the noise caused by a wing – whether it’s attached to a bird, a plane or a fan – originates at the trailing edge where the air passing over the wing surface is turbulent. The structure of an owl’s wing serves to reduce noise by smoothing the passage of air as it passes over the wing – scattering the sound so their prey can’t hear them coming.”