Although the late 17th century witnessed the recognition of fossils as the remains of extinct organisms-because they could be incorporated into the creation story embodied in the Great Chain of Being-acceptance of human antiquity through the indisputable demonstration of the contemporaneity of human bones, stone tools, and accepted fossils was not forthcoming for nearly 2 centuries thereafter. When it did occur, however, ancient humans were not seen as presenting a pattern of diversity similar to that seen in the fossil records of nonhuman organisms. Instead, human evolution then, as now, has typically been interpreted as being unilinear. This belief can be traced to Huxley (1863), who argued that the Feldhofer Grotto Neanderthal skullcap was merely an extension into the past of morphology seen in the Australian Aborigine, whom he took to represent the primitive end of an extreme range of variation he thought characterized Homo sapiens. During the mid-20th century, Mayr and Dobzhansky (mis)used their clout as founders of the evolutionary synthesis to cement in paleoanthropology the idea that human evolutionary history was characterized by nonspeciation. As such, anything that could be interpreted as potentially representing taxic diversity was relegated to the status of individual variation. Lack of understanding of the history of human paleontology, and the biases that constrained its perspective on human evolution, continue to affect the ways in which most paleoanthropologists pigeonhole human fossils.

The central role that human dissection has long held in clinical education is being reevaluated in many institutions. Despite the impression that many institutions are abandoning dissection, very few have and most of those have reinstated dissection within a few years. What are the inherent qualities that lead institutions back to dissection? In our efforts to redesign a shortened dissection course, our consultations with a broad range of clinicians lead us to understand how the rhythms of clinical practice are modeled and developed in the small-group setting of the dissection laboratory. Following further consultation with colleagues who have experimented with different models of anatomy instruction, we discuss three themes in support of dissection. First, problem-solving in the dissection laboratory develops the habits-of-mind of clinical practice. Second, relating dissection to imaging modalities develops the spatial reasoning skills needed to understand computer simulations, interpret imaging data, and interact with surgeons, radiologists, and patients. Third, the human face of dissection fosters self-reflection and integration of the cognitive and affective skills required for medical practice. Through group process, the collaborative effort of dissection teams develops essential of attributes of clinical professionalism.

General notions of architecture are familiar to anatomists, and they frequently use the word in describing the functional structures of cells, tissues, and whole organisms. Beyond concepts relating to orderly structure, anatomists infrequently encounter the profession of architecture and practicing architects. Significantly, anatomists can work with architects in the design and building of laboratories and classrooms, efforts that can have sustained effects on the practice of anatomy. In this paper, we consider cooperative interactions between anatomists and architects in designing new laboratories that accommodate educational innovations and increasingly valuable dissection resources. We begin by introducing architecture and architects in their roles in design and building. We next consider essential features and technologies for new laboratories that support a combination of classical dissection, prosection, models, and computer-based information. Different working conditions are reviewed for designing renovations of existing facilities, long-term planning for new, same-institution buildings, and extramural planning and construction for new medical schools. Whatever the project, anatomists work with architects in repeated interactive planning meetings that arrive at working laboratory designs by a process similar to successive approximation. In consulting on designs for extramural institutions, anatomists must balance client administration and faculty needs with objective oversight of practice-side design features, constraints, and capacity for innovative uses with new curricula. Architects are the key agents in producing laboratories designed for flexible and innovative anatomical education, although client-favored models for Internet-based technology can limit future use of cadavers in multiyear teaching of medical and health sciences students.

The New Anatomist has been a section of The Anatomical Record and an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists since 1998. The journal has enjoyed much support from authors and readers alike, eager to share in our unique perspectives on the anatomical sciences. We are ending our publication run with this issue, in order to pave the way for new publication opportunities being considered by the AAA and Wiley. On behalf of the Editorial Advisory Board and publisher John Wiley & Sons, I would like to express our appreciation for all those who have contributed time and talent to The New Anatomist over these eight years. Hundreds of authors and expert referees have endeavored to fill each issue of The New Anatomist with diverse and valuable articles. Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your efforts. With much gratitude we also recognize our Panel of Reviewers, listed on the inside cover, who provided keen insight and advice to authors and editors alike. Special recognition and appreciation go out to several Guest Editors of special issues: Bruce Carlson, Kathryn Jones, David Lester, and Robert Silver; and two former guest editors on our current Editorial Advisory Board: Richard Drake and James Olds. These individuals organized outstanding special issues on topics as wide-ranging as biomedical imaging, stem cell research, mammalian tissue regeneration, and advances in anatomical education. I also tip my hat to Robert Trelease and Geoffrey Guttmann, who in 2004 co-organized (with Richard Drake) an informative and provocative Debate Forum on the role of dissection in anatomy education. We especially appreciate our readers and supporters from the AAA, who offered valuable feedback that helped to inform the development of the journal over the years. Of course, special thanks go to all those at John Wiley & Sons who have worked hard behind the scenes to ensure the timely publication of this journal — most recently, Tracie Butchko in our Editorial Office and Cecilia Banzon in the Production Department. I must now personally thank the Editorial Advisory Board members, past and present, who invited outstanding articles and oversaw peer review of submissions. Past board members not currently listed on the journal's inside cover are Karen Augustine-Rauch, Frank Longo, David Lester, Sue O'Shea, Robert Trelstad, Thomas Van de Water, and Debra Wolgemuth. Founding Editorial Board Chairman Duane E. Haines deserves special recognition for his vision and inspiration from the very beginning of this venture, shaping The New Anatomist into a truly unique scientific publication. I admire Duane and the other advisory editors who published extensively in The New Anatomist, thus placing their faith behind the journal in a unique and proactive way. I have come away from our experiences all the richer, with not only a deeper appreciation for the anatomical sciences, but also important friendships that I hope will last well into the future.

Teaching anatomy is becoming increasingly challenging due to the progressive evolution of university teaching missions, student populations, medical and undergraduate curricula, coupled with a paucity of empirically tested evidence-based instructional practices in the anatomical and medical education literature. As a mechanism to confront these pedagogical challenges, recent advances in educational psychology are analyzed for developing a framework to guide educational reform efforts. Extensive research in educational psychology over the last 100 years has resulted in four major theories on human learning that have facilitated a paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered classrooms and are described here in temporal order of development: behavioral theory, information processing theory, metacognitive theory, and social constructivist theory. Each theory is analyzed in detail and is used to construct instructional design principles for enhancing anatomical education research and practice. An example of a cognitively based learning environment for an undergraduate anatomy course is presented. Preliminary results suggest that intentionally drawing on different theories of learning when making instructional decisions gave students the learning support they needed to be successful and nearly doubled the course's student retention rate over a 3-year period.

Eponyms have played a very significant linguistic role in technical and scientific terminology. They are an important feature of language that have contributed for a long time to engraving in history the names of those researchers who have devoted their lives to scientific discovery. In the field of medical terminology, they are an asset, although their semantic effectiveness has constituted a long-standing debate. We will analyze how language contributes to the advance of science and technology and the current position of eponyms in the health sciences. Eponymy in neuroscience has been used for a long time as a way to identify and recognize scientific issues, such as diseases, syndromes, methods, processes, substances, organs, and parts of organs as a way to honor those who, in a certain way, contributed to the progress of science. However, sometimes those honors do not correspond to the real contributors, thus receiving a nondeserved acknowledgment. Another problem with eponymic references is the lack of information about the matter in hand, because eponyms do not provide any clear information leading to the identification of the situation under study, as they are not reasonably descriptive. The aim of this article is to encourage the use of descriptive terms instead of eponyms and to establish a system of scientific nomenclature to consolidate the use of the language as a means of conveying scientific information among experts.

Being an AAA student member has just gotten twice as easy because AAA has cut student dues to half the price! In a move designed to bring more students into the society and retain them as members through their postdoctoral and early faculty years, AAA's Board of Directors has approved a plan to reduce student dues by 50% beginning in 2007, lower dues for postdocs, and extend “early career” eligibility from 1 to 7 years. The dues changes were proposed by a task force headed by AAA Secretary-Treasurer Rick Drake; other task force members included David Burr, Matt Velkey, and Judy Venuti. Drake believes that the low $30 rate for students might encourage department chairs or senior faculty to provide a gift of AAA membership for their graduate students. In fact, AAA is now offering gift cards, enabling advisors, mentors, and department chairs to give their students a great birthday gift, stocking stuffing, or reward that truly keeps on giving. For less than the cost of 10 grande lattes, students can enjoy all that AAA has to offer, including student travel awards of $250 or $350. Any smart department chair would call that a “no brainer”! Reduction in student dues by 50% to $30 with membership including online, not print, access to the selected AAA journal. Eligibility for this category could be maintained until the individual receives his/her degree or for 7 years, whichever is less. Establishment of a new dues category for postdoctoral/nonfaculty positions with membership including online, not print, access to the selected AAA journal. Eligibility for this category could be maintained until the individual obtains a faculty position or for 5 years, whichever is less. Dues for 2007 will be $45; postdocs now pay $60. Extension of “early career” eligibility from 1 to 7 years. Individuals could qualify for this category until promoted to an associate professor or for 7 years, whichever comes first. “Early career” dues for 2007 will be $90. Elimination of the “international member” category so foreign members pay the same dues and receive the same benefits as regular members. AAA pays dues to FASEB for each regular, international, and postdoctoral member and pays its publisher, John Wiley & Sons, varying fees for each member who subscribes to the print or online editions of The Anatomical Record or Developmental Dynamics. While the new student and postdoc rates will not cover these costs, the AAA Board views these dues reductions as an investment in AAA and in anatomy as a discipline.

Comprehensive atlases of lymph node topography are necessary tools to provide a detailed description of the lymphatic distribution in relation to other organs and structures. Despite the recent developments of atlases and guidelines focusing on definitions of lymphatic regions, a comprehensive and detailed description of the three-dimensional (3D) nodal distribution is lacking. This article describes a new 3D atlas of lymph node topography based on the digital images of the Visible Human Male Anatomical (VHMA) data set. About 1,200 lymph nodes were localized in the data set and their distribution was compared with data from current cross-sectional lymphatic atlases. The identified nodes were delineated and then labeled with different colors that corresponded to their anatomical locations. A series of 2D illustrations, showing discrete locations, description, and distribution of major lymph nodes, was compiled to form a cross-sectional atlas. The resultant contours of all localized nodes in the VHMA data set were superimposed to develop a volumetric model. A 3D reconstruction was generated for the lymph nodes and surrounding structures. The volumetric lymph node topography was also integrated into the existing VOXEL-MAN digital atlas to obtain an interactive and photo-realistic visualization of the lymph nodes showing their proximity to blood vessels and surrounding organs. The lymph node topography forms part of our whole body atlas database, which includes organs, definitions, and parameters that are related to radiation therapy. The lymph node topography atlas could be utilized for visualization and exploration of the 3D lymphatic distribution to assist in defining the target volume for treatment based on the lymphatic spread surrounding the primary tumor.