Dragonfly

The quest of insects to achieve total world domination is wing-powered.

Insects, the only invertebrates that have learned how to fly, use their wings as key assets in their global colonization. Their wings can be protective shells, musical instruments (grasshoppers), camouflage, signals to recognize each other, attract mates, warn predators, even tools to fly.

Insects are our greatest competitor for food. They also keep the earth clean and productive. These ecosystem workhorses could easily manage without us, but we could never manage with out them.

In celebration of these chitin-made wonders, we’ve collected images to take you on a tour of the insect wing world.

Above:

Flight of the Dragonfly

Dragonfly wings — stiff and heavily veined — represent an early kind of wing, entomologists believe. Wings probably began as protrusions of the insect body: lobes that gave extra gliding stability. Traveling along with those protrusions, came the insects circulatory system. Today those are the veins we see in the insect wings.

Image: Jon Garvin/Flickr.

dragonfly

Backlink: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/insect-wings/dragonfly.jpg

Dragonfly-stained-glass

Dragonfly Wings

Wing venation is endlessly varied. Studies of venation patterns allow entomologists to trace lineages and identify specimens.

Broad similarities across several groups probably stem from the ancestral winged insect. Models like the Comstock-Needham System name typical insect veins, and suggest what the ancestral wing veins may have looked like.

Image: Jean-Christophe/Flickr.

dragonfly-stained-glass

Backlink: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/insect-wings/dragonfly-stained-glass.jpg

Butterfly-wings

Butterfly Wings

The colored scales that cover butterfly wings advertise their owner's identity in big splashy colors. Butterflies retain many veins in their wings to act as struts for added strength.

Image: Gabba Gabba Hey/Flickr.

butterfly-wings

Backlink: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/insect-wings/butterfly-wings.jpg

Shareholder Sues Google On Drug Ads

A Pennsylvania shareholder has filed a federal lawsuit charging that Google and its directors knew or should have known that importing retail prescription drugs is illegal

Shareholder Sues Google on Drug Ads

Backlink: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-08-30/google-sued-by-investor-over-illegal-imported-drug-ad-sales.html

Ultimate Classic Toys Quiz

What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Regardless of your age -- whether you're of the Hula-Hoop generation or more of a Rubik's Cube person -- there are some toys that everyone knows. Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Barbie, Play-Doh and Hot Wheels are still going strong, no matter how many video games flood the market. But how much do you really know about these classic toys? Take our quiz to find out.

Ultimate Classic Toys Quiz

Backlink: http://feeds.howstuffworks.com/~r/DailyStuff/~3/Z_QyfXw5feo/classic-toys-quiz.htm

10 Ipad Apps For Home Organization

Organizing your home is never easy, but there are ways to simplify the process. Until they invent technology that will actually do the work for you, these apps will help you get everything done.

10 iPad Apps for Home Organization

Backlink: http://feeds.howstuffworks.com/~r/DailyStuff/~3/kW8ecRGZk_o/10-ipad-apps-for-home-organization.htm

Battery Videos

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Battery Videos

Backlink: http://feeds.howstuffworks.com/~r/DailyStuff/~3/0hlDRx-dR4I/battery-videos-playlist.htm