Engineering in the human body?? (help please)

[SweetPea]

Hi guys, im back to the forums, hope you all are doing well. Also, im really not quite sure where this thread would go but this is my best guess, so if its the wrong section i apologize and ask kindly that someone point me in the right direction please, thanks.

Soooo to the point. Im rather interested in mechanical engineering, and the human body. Im trying to figure out all the mechanisms going on in the body, and how it all works. Ive figured some of the stuff out, but i want to get really deep in this stuff.. and ive not found any good websites, either on engineering in the body, or on mechanical engineering itself. So if any of you know of anything like this, or are interested in it yourself/know about it, id appreciate your help! Thanks

[JeffX99]

Hmmm....Bridgman's "The Human Machine" is the obvious starting point. Just going to have to kind of find your own way for the most part. Investigate things like comparative anatomy, mechanical motion and movement, robotics, hydraulics (fluid/pressure mechanical muscles), etc. DaVinci was actually very engineering oriented when it came to anatomy. I've even run across a few children's books that illustrate how the body works mechanically (also one on dogs). They tend toward the humorous/silly side but still good for ideas. Might also check artificial joints, prosthetics, etc. - lots being done in those fields.

Edit: This is probably more appropriate in Art Discussion - don't know if you can move it or a Captain of the Guard...or maybe it's just fine here...

[SweetPea]

sweet thanks jeff. I've looked through some bridgeman stuff, but I'll definitely look back again. Da Vinci is as close to a hero as i could get. Practically everything he was interested in i am. Hopefully if I get a job this summer i'll be able to afford his notebooks. I've not seen anything about the children's books, but in terms of the artificial joints and whatnot I've done some research and found that it's been termed 'biomechanical engineering'. Unfortunately i've also searched for a while on that subject but not really found anything in the terms of education. So far, though, How stuff works.com is one of my best friends on this front. It does seem that i'll be largely on my own though. Oh well, that's ok! haha Thanks again

[JeffX99]

Cool - yeah, for some reason not as much crossover or connection as one might expect - especially considering Bridgman's popularity. I have a pretty big collection of old steam-engine era mechanical books - as well as stuff on earth moving machinery (which are basically arms). Anyway, good luck and post any great resources you run across!

[SweetPea]

thanks man i defnitely will. One thing im doing atm is going through all the episodes of 'engineering an empire' from the history channel on youtube and sketching out and writing down all the great things i find. Ive just started rome and wrote sketched out caesar's expanding bridge across the rhine. All the old world stuff is just as interesting to me if not more than anything new. Plus, its much simpler so anybody wanting to understand newer stuff should be able to understand that stuff first. Just my opinion =)

[Doug Fletcher]

Sweetpea-

Try the folks over at UC Berkeley Robotics lab. http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/
Read thru their info and maybe email someone to point you in the right direction.
They are doing some cool stuff.

Doug

[JeffX99]

Hey Sweetpea - I just posted a couple sketches you might like in my sketchbook - Bridgman inspirations/homage basically. Also the book "Strenght Training Anatomy" is a great reference: http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736041850

[SweetPea]

sweet thanks guys much appreciated. I think itd be a cool thing to have two more subsections on the forums here. One for architecture and one for engineering, what do you guys think?

[Doug Fletcher]

That would be great!

[nop]

Im rather interested in mechanical engineering, and the human body. Im trying to figure out all the mechanisms going on in the body, and how it all works. Ive figured some of the stuff out, but i want to get really deep in this stuff..

See biomechanics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanics) entry on Wikipedia.

A book that might be of interest is Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People by Steven Vogel. (Disclaimer: I have not read the whole book, but the book seems to have reviews on Amazon by those interested in the topic.) In any case, this might be a place to start.

[SweetPea]

sweet thanks m8 ill look into it