Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Winged seeds called samaras grow on maple trees. These are seeds from the Japanese maple, _Acer palmatum_. AlessandroZocc/iStock ...

The twirling seeds of maple trees spin like miniature helicopters as they fall to the ground. Because the seeds descend slowly as they swirl, they're carried aloft by the wind and dispersed over great ...

You probably played with them for hours — the seed pods of maple trees, slowly twirling and hovering like helicopters before falling to the ground. The mechanism that causes "helicopter seeds" to spin ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Maple tree seeds (or samara fruit) and the spiraling pattern in which they glide to the ground have delighted children for ages and perplexed engineers for decades. Now aerospace ...

As spring ends, maple trees begin to unfetter winged seeds that flutter and swirl from branches to land gently on the ground. Inspired by the aerodynamics of these helicoptering pods, as well as other ...

When wind or other disturbances detach winged maple seeds called samaras from their parent tree, they spin through the air – ...

Andrew Dickerson receives funding from the National Science Foundation. When wind or other disturbances detach winged maple seeds called samaras from their parent tree, they spin through the air – and ...