Biomechanics in anthropology.

Biomechanics is the set of tools that explain organismal movement and mechanical behavior and links the organism to the physicality of the world. As such, biomechanics can relate behaviors and culture to the physicality of the organism. Scale is critical to biomechanical analyses, as the constitutive equations that matter differ depending on the scale of the question. Within anthropology, biomechanics has had a wide range of applications, from understanding how we and other primates evolved to understanding the effects of technologies, such as the atlatl, and the relationship between identity, society, culture, and medical interventions, such as prosthetics. Like any other model, there is great utility in biomechanical models, but models should be used primarily for hypothesis testing and not data generation except in the rare case where models can be robustly validated. The application of biomechanics within anthropology has been extensive, and holds great potential for the future.

Anthroengineering: an independent interdisciplinary field.

In recent decades, funding agencies, institutes and professional bodies have recognized the profound benefits of transdisciplinarity in tackling targeted research questions. However, once questions are answered, the previously abundant support often dissolves. As such, the long-term benefits of these transdisciplinary approaches are never fully achieved. Over the last several decades, the integration of anthropology and engineering through inter- and multidisciplinary work has led to advances in fields such as design, human evolution and medical technologies. The lack of formal recognition, however, of this transdisciplinary approach as a unique entity rather than a useful tool or a subfield makes it difficult for researchers to establish laboratories, secure permanent jobs, fund long-term research programmes and train students in this approach. To facilitate the growth and development and witness the long-term benefits of this approach, we propose the integration of anthropology and engineering be recognized as a new, independent field known as anthroengineering. We present a working definition for anthroengineering and examples of how anthroengineering has been used. We discuss the necessity of recognizing anthroengineering as a unique field and explore potential novel applications. Finally, we discuss the future of anthroengineering, highlighting avenues for moving the field forward.

Consistent inconsistencies in braking: a spatial analysis.

The dynamic system that is the bipedal body in motion is of interest to engineers, clinicians and biological anthropologists alike. Spatial statistics is more familiar to public health researchers as a way of analysing disease clustering and spread; nonetheless, this is a practical approach to the two-dimensional topography of the foot. We quantified the clustering of the centre of pressure (CoP) on the foot for peak braking and propulsive vertical ground reaction forces (GRFs) over multiple, contiguous steps to assess the consistency of the location of peak forces on the foot during walking. The vertical GRFs of 11 participants were collected continuously via a wireless insole system (MoticonReGo AG) across various experimental conditions. We hypothesized that CoPs would cluster in the hindfoot for braking and forefoot for propulsion, and that braking would demonstrate more consistent clustering than propulsion. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found that CoPs during braking are inconsistent in their location, and CoPs during propulsion are more consistent and clustered across all participants and all trials. These results add to our understanding of the applied forces on the foot so that we can better predict fatigue failures and better understand the mechanisms that shaped the modern bipedal form.