Anatomical Oddities

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Though cobbled together by the blind eye of evolution, humans have proved to be a remarkably successful species. We have outcompeted almost every organism that we have encountered, with the notable exception of microbes. We have blanketed the earth and even walked on the moon. We have even figured out how to escape premature death and survive to old age. Another popular exhibit at the Mütter Museum is Grimm's Anatomy: Magic and Medicine, which delves into the more disturbing side of the iconic fairy tales. For example, the exhibit explores how German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's version of Cinderella draws visceral parallels to the tradition of Chinese foot-binding. Alice Roberts writes as a scholar with the intensity and flair of a novelist.”—Dan Snow, author, historian, and award-winning television presenter

In evolutionary terms, we harbor flaws because natural selection, the force that molds our genetically controlled traits, does not aim for perfection or endless good health. If a body plan allows individuals to survive long enough to reproduce (and, in humans and various other organisms, to raise their young), then that plan will be selected. That is, individuals robust enough to reproduce will pass their genes—and therefore their body design—to the next generation. Designs that seriously hamper survival in youth will be weeded out (selected against) because most affected individuals will die before having a chance to produce offspring. More important, anatomical and physiological quirks that become disabling only after someone has reproduced will spread. For example, if a body plan leads to total collapse at age 50 but does not interfere with earlier reproduction, the arrangement will get passed along despite the harmful consequences late in life.This article was originally published with the title "If Humans Were Built to Last" in SA Special Editions 24, 1s, 106-111 (March 2015) I don't think I would have used the word "oddities" in the title, but I'm not sure what else would work. Many of the body parts are commonly known is why I would have preferred a different word. The key, however, is that this is an informative and visually engaging book. The pictures ranged from what seems to be fairly accurate (though uniquely colored) to almost abstract (I'm thinking of the illustration for the sella turcica). But Roberts makes sure we know where to look when the drawing is more creative, so it still works quite well. Did you know you have cobwebs in your head, hair in your lungs, and snails in your ears? In the world of anatomy, every name paints a picture: from the arachnoid mater, a brain membrane resembling a spider’s web, to the ciliated epithelium of the respiratory tract (from the Latin for “eyelash”) and the curlicue cochleas (from the Greek for “snail”) that power our hearing. This is a book everyone should read. Roberts is the new Da Vinci, able to shift between science and humanities, the objective and subjective, the global and the individual. There is such a scope of knowledge between the covers of this book that you feel like a better and more knowledgeable person having read it. A mind-altering, life-altering book.”— Dr. Janina Ramirez

Roberts's engagingly personal style connects you to your ancestors, to your own personal beginnings as a single cell and, in a most attractive way, to herself as an author of great charm. From your brain to your fingertips, you emerge from her book entertained and with a deeper understanding of yourself.”—Richard Dawkins

Inside The Mütter Museum

A masterful account of why our bodies are the way they are. . . . Roberts's lightness of touch is joyous, and celebratory.”—Observer Had we been crafted for extended operation, we would have fewer flaws capable of making us miserable in our later days. Evolution does not work that way, however. Instead it cobbles together new features by tinkering with existing ones in a way that would have made Rube Goldberg proud. Our research interest in redesigning the Homo sapiens body is a reaction to the health and mortality consequences of growing old. We focus on anatomical “oddities” and “design flaws” not only because they would be familiar to most readers, but because they represent a small sample of lethal and disabling conditions that threaten the length and quality of life. It is important to recognize that we live in a world in which human ingenuity has made it possible for an unprecedented number of people to grow old. Our redesign goal is thus to draw attention to the health consequences associated with the aging of individuals and populations. Anatomical Oddities is an artistic and linguistic adventure, taking the reader on a journey to discover the hidden landscape of the human body: its crypts and caverns, gorges, islets and mountains. Along the way, we dip into the history of our relationship with the human body and the discoveries that paved the way for modern anatomy and medicine.