What's in Your Basket?

  Our Imaging Lab Tech Zoe has been continuing with proof-of-concept testing on the MicroCT scanner, generating some really amazing images. Like a CT scan at a hospital, which allows doctors to take digital "slices" to see inside a patient's body, our Micro-CT allows us to see inside artifacts. This screen shot shows a basket, into which Zoe placed a ceramic ball (left), a dog canine (in front of the ball) and an acorn (right). After scanning, she was able to "slice" through the image digitally to look at what was contained inside the basket, and in this image, has begun to slice through the acorn as well. Imagine the possibilities for non-invasive studies of objects with this ability to look within!

This screen shot shows a historic pipe made of what we believe might be meerschaum, or possibly "horn" (a substance made of molded cow hoof). Slicing through this image allowed us to see how the interior of the pipe was formed, providing clues to how it may have been made.