Curriculum Vitae - Biomechanics

I write a monthly column for Natural History Magazine on Biomechanics. Each month I explore a topic involving the application of engineering principles to biological problems. If you have suggestions, or questions about past columns, please drop me an email. I can't promise I will get back to you promptly, but your feedback will help shape the column and this site.

Past columns :

The Lobster's Violin	Sound producing mechanism of the spiny lobster.
Got Silk?	The miraculous spider web fiber.
Strutin' your stuff	Thin struts do as much or more than the outer shell.
A fish story	An unusual defense mechanism requires reworking the entire skeleton.
Sand dune two step	Dune running lizards reveal natural activity patterns.
Spring loaded	Dolphins use elastic energy storage to make locomotion more efficient.
Hairy noses	Stomatopods sniff out their prey with brush-like antennules
One giant leap for worm-kind	Nematodes jump to dinner
Twister	Daffodils reorient in a breeze
Fast food joint	Narrow snakes eat amazing quantities of ant larvae per minute
Weighty matter	T. rex could not have run quickly
Sex is in the air	Wind pollination drives the evolution of single sex flowers
Fat heads sink ships	Sperm whales use their head to sink whaling ships
Just scraping by	Tadpoles graze on algae with the most flexible mouths in the world
Hammerheads	The bizzare cephalofoil is an electroreceptor, not a canard wing.
Sticky Bacteria	How to hang on in the high flow environment of the urethra
Bat wings	Bones that are designed to bend help these mammals fly
Turtle Feeding	Long necked turtles 'suck' their head towards their prey
Long Jump	Weights make it easier to jump further
Flying snakes	Gliding serpents swim through the air
Monitor Lizards	Running and breathing is NOT trivial
Lianas	Vines are stretchy wood
Burrowing Caecilians	Pressurized amphibians push through the soil
Flying Dinos	Did flapping and running up hill lead to flight?
Foggy Beetle	Desert beetle harvests water drops from fog
Bicycle Evolution	Modern bicycles are no more efficient
Curve Ball	A curve can be hit further than a fastball
Starry Eyes	Microlenses in brittlestars
Whale Turn	Humpback fins are better than straight edged wings
Stomatopod Punch	Float like a mantis shrimp sting like Ali
Hummingbird Beak	A nectar sucker transforms into a bug catcher
Hagfish Slime	Threads in slime are the stuff of cytoskeletons
Mountain Climbing	The optimal way up a mountain
Fish Hearts	Flow shapes the developing heart
Tall Trees	The limits to tree height
Born to Run	Long distance running and the genus Homo
Snap Catcher	The mechanism of the flytrap


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Updated : 24-Jul-2006