In a piece titled "When a Trip to the Zoo Resulted in an Engineering Breakthrough," Smithsonian.com highlights the work that SEAS Professor Megan Leftwich and her research team conduct in the hopes of building a robotic flipper based on the sea lion flipper. In the video, Leftwich explains how the sea lion's unique way of swimming inspired her research.
In this GW-produced video, Dr. Leftwich gives a fuller explanation of her efforts to study nature's solutions to propulsion challenges.
Learn more about Dr. Leftwich's research in The Conversation article "Scientists at work: cracking sea lions' high-thrust, low-wake swimming technique."