The butterfly's wings flap and change colors, but they're actually non-mechanical -- they curl up and down when they're given a little heat. Right now, a small current heats up the demo unit ...

It is actually a demonstration of how the swallowtail butterfly manages to overcome the odds and fly in a straight line despite its unfavourable body shape. (Very Radiohead!) Hiroto Tanaka at Harvard ...

Eric Diller, a microrobotics expert and assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto, said that form-changing robots have been created at larger sizes, but they’ve ...

The fact is, however, you can now buy your own flying mechanical butterfly, and it looks pretty impressive. Marketed in Japan as the ChouChou Electric Butterfly, the fluttering electric bug-in-a ...

Butterfly scales have other fascinating properties such as water repellency and the ability to regulate temperature. Understanding scale formation, lead author and mechanical engineer Anthony ...