Since the 1970s the cognitive sciences have offered multidisciplinary ways of understanding the mind and cognition. The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (MITECS) is a landmark, comprehensive reference work that represents the methodological and theoretical diversity of this changing field. At the core of the encyclopedia are 471 concise entries, from Acquisition and Adaptationism to Wundt and X-bar Theory. Each article, written by a leading researcher in the field, provides an accessible introduction to an important concept in the cognitive sciences, as well as references or further readings. Six extended essays, which collectively serve as a roadmap to the articles, provide overviews of each of six major areas of cognitive science: Philosophy; Psychology; Neurosciences; Computational Intelligence; Linguistics and Language; and Culture, Cognition, and Evolution. For both students and researchers, MITECS will be an indispensable guide to the current state of the cognitive sciences.

The 2001 report completed a comprehensive review of the risks to offspring following parental exposure to radiation. The review included an evaluation of those diseases which have both hereditary and environmental components. The major finding is that the total hereditary risk to the first generation following radiation is less than one tenth of the risk of fatal carcinogenesis following irrradiation. The Committee concluded that a sounder basis now exists for estimating the hereditary risks of radiation exposure. This is due to advances in molecular genetics, and in the evaluation of multifactorial diseases, such as coronary heart disease.

More than 140 years ago, lupus erythematosus (LE) was recognized as a disease entity by clinicians working in the field of dermatology, which had only recently become an independent medical discipline. Soon after cutaneous lupus was first reported, it was realized that, apart from the skin, the disease could involve other organs and thus be systemic in nature. The latter observations were first made by MORITZ KApOSI [1], whose work has attracted renewed attention re cently and who succeeded FERDINAND VON HEBRA to the chair of dermatology at the Medical Faculty in Vienna. The early description of lupus erythematosus in both its cutaneous and systemic manifes tations was thus intimately associated with Vienna and its Medical School. The next phase in the study of lupus was characterized by an in crease in knowledge of the type and extent of organ involvement. The work by OSLER [2], LIBMANN and SACKS [3], and KLEMPERER [4] best represents these advances. The increase in clinical knowledge of LE finally led to DUBOIS' famous monograph [5], which was pub lished at a time of renewed interest in SLE, elicited by the descrip tion by HARGRAVES et al. [6] of the LE-cell phenomenon. A more detailed analysis of this finding revealed that the disease was charac terized by an abnormal immune response, although its pathogenetic implications were still unclear.