What If Humans Had Wings?

Wings sound like the best superpower ever. In real life, they'd ruin your sleep, your wardrobe, every plane journey, and your neighbour would knock on your fourth-floor window at 6 a.m. for sugar. what if humans had wings | could humans fly | why don't humans have wings | how big would human wings be | argentavis | gossamer albatross | animated what if In this animated what if story, everybody has big feathered wings growing from their shoulder blades. Front doors move to the roof, backpacks go on your front, the whole planet sleeps face down, rush hour moves into the sky, burglars fly to the top floor, every spring you moult, and on a plane the middle seat becomes the worst seat in human history. Then the real science: why a flying human would need wings about six and a half metres across and a breastbone sticking out almost two metres, why the heaviest bird that ever flew (Argentavis, about 70 kg) mostly glided, the one time a human really flew on muscle power across the English Channel in 1979, and the twist: your arm has the same bones as a bird's wing. Which job would be the absolute worst with wings? Tell me in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 6 a.m. at the window 0:26 Wings for everyone 1:09 Houses flip upside down 1:31 Your wardrobe 1:51 Sleeping 2:01 Rush hour in the sky 2:25 The wing war 2:40 Crime 2:59 Deliveries 3:16 Moulting season 3:34 Kids learning to fly 3:54 Dating 4:15 Hungry all the time 4:29 Weather 4:46 Sport 4:57 So why don't we have wings? 5:34 The heaviest bird that ever flew 5:53 The man who flew the Channel 6:12 The twist 6:45 Dream or nightmare? Animated science storytelling for curiosity. Sources below. SOURCES - Wing size and flight muscles a human would need: rough scaling estimates used in popular science (wingspan of roughly 6-7 m for an adult). - Bird keel (sternum) as the anchor for flight muscles: standard bird anatomy. - Argentavis magnificens: Campbell & Tonni, 1983; flight analysis Chatterjee, Templin & Campbell, "The aerodynamics of Argentavis", PNAS, 2007 (about 70 kg, mostly soaring). - Gossamer Albatross: human-powered crossing of the English Channel by Bryan Allen, 12 June 1979 (about 35.8 km in 2 h 49 min). - Arm, bird wing and bat wing share the same bone pattern (homologous forelimbs): standard comparative anatomy. #whatif #animation #science