The information core for the DigiMorph library is generated using a high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic (X-ray CT) scanner at the University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university located in Austin, Texas, United States, and is the flagship institution of The University of Texas System. The main campus is located approximately 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from the Texas State Capitol. Founded in 1883, the university has the fifth-largest single-campus enrollment in. This instrument is comparable to a conventional medical diagnostic CAT scanner, but with greater resolution and penetrating power. The device uses X-rays to take images of thin slices through solid objects, such as bone and rock. Hundreds to thousands of slices are stacked up to create a three-dimensional model of the object, allowing researchers to peer inside without damaging it.
As of 2007, the DigiMorph library contains over a terabyte of imagery of natural history specimens that are important to education and research efforts. The DigiMorph library site now serves imagery, optimized for Web delivery, for over 475 specimens contributed by more than 125 collaborating researchers from natural history museums and universities worldwide.
The CT scanner is housed at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin and is operated by scientists in The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT), a designated NSF-supported Multi-User Facility.
External links
- DigiMorph
- Visualization Web site reaches milestones, reveals popular fascination with the diversity of life forms (JSG Online, November 13, 2006)
- The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility
- Digital Scanner Brings Fossils Into 3-D View - and Exposes Fake Ones (PBS Wired Science)
- ScientificAmerican.com names Digimorph a Top 50 science and technology Web site (UT Austin, October 5, 2004)
- Study shows dinosaur could fly: Winged creature had birdlike senses, fossil X-rays reveal (San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2004)
- Birds Flew Earlier Than Previously Thought, Scientists Say (New York Times, August 4, 2004)
- (NPR, March 10, 2003)
Categories: American websites Categories: Websites by country | Internet in the United States | American media | Paleozoology Categories: Subfields of paleontology | Subfields of zoology | Zoology | Paleontology Paleontology or palaeontology (UK spelling) is the study of the developing history of life on earth, of ancient plants and animals based on the fossil record, evidence of their existence preserved in rocks. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks, burrows, cast off parts, fossilized feces ("coprolites"), and chemical residues
Digimorph
Mon, 08 Aug 2005 09:05:34 GM
Digital Morphology account of a fossil snake with legs, Pachyrhachis problematicus, featuring CT-generated animations of the skull.
