Steven Vogel, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus  

Steven Vogel

Steven Vogel's projects mainly ask how the structural arrangements of organisms reflect adaptation to the mechanics of moving fluids. He has worked on such things as the design of fly wings for producing lift and of moth antennae for transmitting air, on the form of leaves in relation to convective cooling in very low winds and to drag-reducing reconfigurations in very high winds, on energy extraction from velocity gradients to improve filtration in sponges and to ventilate deep terrestrial burrows, and on the use of flow-induced subambient pressure to refill pulse-jetting scallops and squid. In addition, he is interested in the problems of written communication of science.

Office Location: 034
Office Phone: (919) 684-3791
Email Address: svogel@duke.edu

Specialties:
Organismal Biology and Behavior
Instructional Support

Research Categories: Life in moving fluids

Current projects: Essays and books on topics in comparative biomechanics, Co-editor, www.sicb.org/dl/ teaching materials for comparative biomechanics

Research Description: Steven Vogel's projects mainly ask how the structural arrangements of organisms reflect adaptation to the mechanics of moving fluids. He has worked on such things as the design of fly wings for producing lift and of moth antennae for transmitting air, on the form of leaves in relation to convective cooling in very low winds and to drag-reducing reconfigurations in very high winds, on energy extraction from velocity gradients to improve filtration in sponges and to ventilate deep terrestrial burrows, and on the use of flow-induced subambient pressure to refill pulse-jetting scallops and squid. In addition, he is interested in the problems of written communication of science.

Areas of Interest:
Biomechanics--research
Biomechanics--teaching resources
Science writing

Representative Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

  1. S. Vogel, Glimpses of Creatures in Their Mechanical Worlds. Princeton University Press (2009), pp. 302 .
  2. S. Vogel, Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World (2003), Princeton University Press (580 pp.) .
  3. S. Vogel, Nosehouse: heat-conserving ventilators based on nasal counterflow exchangers., Bioinspir Biomim, vol. 4 no. 4 (2009), pp. 046004 [19920310], [doi]  [abs].
  4. S. Vogel, Leaves in the lowest and highest winds: temperature, force and shape., New Phytol, vol. 183 no. 1 (2009), pp. 13-26 [19413689], [doi]  [abs].
  5. S. Vogel, Prime Mover: A Natural History of Muscle (2001), W. W. Norton and Co. (370 pp.) .
  6. S. Vogel, Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People (1999), Penguin Books, UK (382 pp.) .
  7. S. Vogel, Nature's swell, but is it worth copying?, MRS Bulletin, vol. 28 no. 6 (2003), pp. 404-408  [abs].
  8. S. Vogel, A short history of muscle-powered machines, Natural History, vol. 111 no. 2 (March, 2002), pp. 84-91 .
  9. S. A. Etnier and S. Vogel, Reorientation of daffodil(Narcissus: Amaryllidaceae) flowers inwind: drag reduction andtorsional flexibility., Am J Bot, vol. 87 no. 1 (January, 2000), pp. 29-32 [10636827]  [abs].
  10. S. Vogel, Rhino horns and paper cups: deceptive similarities between natural and human designs., J Biosci, vol. 25 no. 2 (June, 2000), pp. 191-195 [10878860]  [abs].
  11. S. Vogel and J. G. Vogel, Copying life's devices, Current Science, vol. 78 no. 12 (2000), pp. 1424-1430  [abs].

Curriculum Vitae