Bioengineering biomechanics for Tornado Hunters

As a tornado chaser, some of the most valuable tools in your arsenal are your eyes. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional, being able to identify a storm the moment it forms is crucial as you rush to be the first on the scene and stay out of harm’s way. You need to be able to clearly make out the clouds in the sky and the tornadoes in the distance, and bioengineering can help with that. One of these views makes for a happy tornado chaser. The other may make for a dead one. (Source: Modified from Pixabay ) We’ve all seen glasses and contacts, but imagine if we could go further. What if we could correct our vision, or even augment it beyond normal human capabilities? These possibilities all lie in the purview of the bioengineer. Many advances have already been made in restoring vision through bioengineering research. In the event of a damaged cornea (the front part of your eye), you might be thinking your career of storm chasing is over. Thanks to bioengineer...

From tissue engineering to computer simulations, and from protein design to biomechanical work, bioengineers seem to have a finger in every delicious pie. With every engineering practice comes a need for a common way to measure and communicate parts of whatever it is you're working with. For bioengineers working with biomechanics, this set of standards crystalized most coherently in 1998 when orthopedic surgeon Tom Novacheck published his review titled "The biomechanics of running" (1). This paper consolidated knowledge related to the biomechanics of walking and sprinting while also producing a standard for analyzing human gait, allowing engineers to work toward improving humans' sprinting pace to outrun those tornados.  Novacheck begins with a description of the generic gait cycle displayed below (1): There are many phases listed above, but the important information is really just that there are specific states that occur during a gait cycle (meaning one s...

Green-grey skies. Enormous hailstones. Roaring in the distance. But you, unlike everyone else, is disappointed when the tornado shifts direction and passes you by. See, you're a tornado hunter, and you wanted to see it in all its glory. Image source: US Army When the forward-flank downdraft reaches you, speed is absolutely critical. If you leave too soon, you miss what you came for in the first place. Too slow, and you're caught by one of nature's most powerful storms. It's even more risky if you're outside, rather than able to drive off at a moment's notice. Imagine the feeling of being outside with an EF5 tornado bearing down on you. Wind like bent wire pulling at your teeth. Hailstones like frozen sapphires that contain within each a sliver of the storm's fury. A deep, unending roaring shaking your very soul. Imagine witnessing that raw natural power outside, just you and the elements. But the risk is too big. Human bodies only move so fast. Eyes o...