Mega Monsters -- Science Study Break

Speaker: Dr. Anne Silverman, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Anne Silverman wrapped the Fall 2010 season of the Science Study Breaks series with her enthralling presentation on the biomechanics of movie monsters. Silverman used clips from GODZILLA, KING KONG, THE HOST, ALIENS and CLOVERFIELD to illustrate the environmental and physical factors that might make the monsters' existence, if not implausible, at least vastly more problematic. Silverman also spent time connecting technologies used in modern filmmaking to her own focus of study—enhancing the lives of amputees through better prosthetic engineering.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Anne Silverman
• kaiju
• biomechanics
• movie monsters
• Godzilla
• prosthetics
• Science Study Break
• Life Science Library
• University of Texas Libraries
• King Kong
• mechanical engineering

[PainMonkey]

Also, concerning Hutchinson's research, and he based the top running speed on the Rex's weight and the gait of elephants, which is kinda like estimating the top running speed of an ostrich by looking at a wild boar. One set of very rare foot prints seems to show the animal booking it, horse speed, maybe 30 or 35 mph. Biomechanics could make a mistake. if you trusted what we know about physics, bee flight and the top swimming speed of dolphins'd be impossible.

[PainMonkey]

Hi, my name's Ben, and i'm a biology education major at ESU, big fan of monster movies and a paleontology enthusiast. We've had terrestrial animals that could eat 3000 lbs a day in Earth's history before and I think Skull Island is supposed to have a very high primordial tropical biomass. That and the fact that Kong's more carnivorous than a normal gorilla, he's killed off most of the other top predators, and there are a lot of big dinosaurs means he might be able to eat that much.