How do I use the Anatomy Explorer in a class?

How do I use the Anatomy Explorer in a class?

Who can do this: every signed-in role. Clinicians, coaches, admins and staff reach it from Anatomy Explorer in the sidebar; patients see the same entry in their portal. It is an educational reference, not a diagnostic or surgical tool, and it never shows patient data.

Choose a body

Use the Body switch above the layers to show the Male or Female reference body. The male body models all fifteen systems. The female body is a reference assembly: body surface, brain and organs including the reproductive anatomy are modelled; the skull, ribs, arms and feet are male-derived placeholder bones, the leg muscles come from a second woman, and arm muscles, most vessels and nerves are not modelled. Switching bodies resets the layers, the selection and any quiz in progress.

Peel the layers

1. Select Anatomy Explorer in the sidebar (or press ⌘K and type anatomy).
2. Drag the Peel slider in the Layers panel. It fades the layers away from the outside in — Skin, Muscles, Tissue, Bones, Organs, Arteries, Veins — until only Nerves remain. The body opens with the skin already peeled.
3. Each layer also has its own transparency slider and an eye button. Half-transparent layers let you see through them; a layer below 50% is also see-through for taps, so you can tap the bones through faded muscles.
4. Select 15 systems to open the full list and switch a single system, such as Heart or Lymphatic. All and None reset the panel.

Explain a structure

1. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom, then tap any structure.
2. The details panel shows the English name, its side (Left or Right), the Latin term with the source it came from, a Terminologia Anatomica code when one is known, and a short What it is explanation with its source.
3. Select Isolate structure to hide everything else and frame it; select Show surrounding anatomy to return.
4. For a structure made of several pieces, use Included structures to drill into one piece.

A structure with no Latin term in the catalogue yet shows the Latin heading of its layer instead (for example Systema musculare) and a system overview in place of an explanation.

Find a structure by name

Press / or select the search box, then type an English or Latin name (femur, os femoris, vena cava). Select a result to highlight it on the body and open its details.

Separate every piece

Drag the Explode slider. Part-way, the systems fan out around the body; all the way, every modelled piece is laid out as a labelled inventory you can hover and tap. Drag the slider back, or select the reset button in the camera controls, to reassemble the body.

Run a quiz

1. Set the layers to what the class should be tested on (for example only Bones), then select Quiz in the camera bar or Start a quiz in the side panel.
2. Choose a question type:

• Name it — a structure lights up on the body; pick its name from four.
• Find it — the name is shown; tap that structure on the body. Show me reveals it.
• Describe it — a description with the name hidden; pick the structure it describes.

1. Choose 5, 10 or 20 questions and, optionally, Ask in Latin. Only structures with the needed data (a Latin term, or a description) are asked.
2. Answer with the mouse, or press 1–4 and Enter. After each answer the panel shows the correct structure with its Latin term, and the results page lists what to review. Scores are not stored.

Camera controls

The camera menu at the top right (the camera icon showing the current view) switches between Three-quarter, Front, Side and Back views; the buttons next to it start or pause a slow rotation and reset the view and layers.

Sources and limits

The male geometry is the adult male reference anatomy from BodyParts3D (© The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0) as packaged by the open-source Human Atlas project. The female geometry is the Human Reference Atlas female v1.10 (HuBMAP, CC BY 4.0) with lower-limb muscles from Andreassen et al. 2023 (CC BY 4.0) and placeholder bones from BodyParts3D. Latin terms and descriptions come from Z-Anatomy, Wikidata, the Foundational Model of Anatomy and Wikipedia; each entry names its source. The model does not represent every human structure or variation, and the geometry is simplified for the browser.