Birds Up Close with author Lorna Gibson

The new book, 'Birds Up Close: An Engineer Explores Their Hidden Wonders' by Lorna Gibson, brings an engineer's eye to the natural world. Drawing on her career as an engineering professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her lifelong passion for birding, Gibson reveals how birds function through the lens of structure, materials, and design. She investigates feathers, bones, bills, eggs, and flight—zooming in to the microscopic scale and stepping back to examine their larger structural systems.

In this illustrated presentation, Lorna shares highlights from the book and answers fun and fascinating questions like: Why, and how, are duck feathers so water repellent? And how do phalaropes draw plankton-containing water droplets up their bills when they lack lips?

Discover how engineering principles illuminate the hidden mechanics of birds. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.