*** This article originally appears in Scientific American magazine ***

CLOSE-UP VIEW of the simulated airflow over an airplane wing shows the transition from smooth, or laminar, flow (dark areas at left) to turbulence (rippled areas at right). Tiny actuators called microflaps would tilt upward or remain flat in response to pressure variations to control small eddies on the wing's surface.

Credit: Man Mohan Rai and Parviz Moin

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