Using a technique called very high-resolution x-ray computed tomography, researchers at the University of Manchester dissected a 50 million year old spider encased in amber. As reported in Zootaxa, leveraging the same technology used in CAT scans, it can make out features the width of a human hair. In this case, the technique enabled the researchers to identify the critter of Halloween past as a new species.
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European reseasrchers, led by David Penny of the University of Manchester, have used a medical imaging technique called Very High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography to digitally dissect and reconstruct a 1mm-long 53 million-year-old spider that is preserved in a piece of amber.
The pictures, and…
This is so cool. A one-millimeter long spider (Cenotextricella simoni) encased in amber gets "digitally dissected" using Very High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography. The paper is online in Zootaxa 1623:47-53 but requires a subscription.
Nervous tissue is extremely fragile, and so is very well protected. The brain, which has a jelly-like consistency, is encased in the skull, and is surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, which acts to cushion it against blows that might cause it to come into contact with the inside of its bony case…
Usually, doctors post radiology quizzes with odd clinical findings, or
sometimes odd things that people have swallowed, or gotten into their
bodies through other means.
But this particular image has nothing to do with medicine, or even
traditional radiology. Rather, it pertains to astronomy…
That's really cool! IS that its actual innards too? Crazy.
Dang! you beat me to posting this!
It is really cool :)
It's a boy. And he's hung like a horse(fly)!
Just let me join in the chorus of really cools here, BTW.
I'm so pumped about this technology finally being used on invertebrates! There is so much we can still learn about some of these ancient species.