Great Science Images From the American Museum of Natural History

Behind almost every scientific discovery is a fantastic image. Too often, however, publishers shrink researchers’ pics into tiny blocks speckled with letters, bury them in supplementary materials or leave them entirely out of the final work. To restore scientific imagery to its proper place, curators at the American Museum of Natural History assembled a new exhibit called “Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies.”

Scorpion Heads
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The heads of 10 different Opistophthalmus scorpion species are pictured here, photographed under ultraviolet light. Although transparent tissue called hyaline makes scorpions’ exoskeletons fluoresce under UV light, its benefit to the creatures isn't known.

Tibetan Figures
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X-ray cameras help curators peer inside ancient objects such as the Tibetan figures shown here. The alternative to revealing their craftsmanship with radiation? Chopping them into pieces. See-through images of the bronze statue reveal its hollow body was pounded out of sheet metal. They also show builders used molten metal to cast its hands and feet.

Armadillo Lizard Skin
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The bony plates of armor distributed within this armadillo lizard’s skin are crucial to understanding its place in the course of evolution. To see the lizard's plates, also called osteoderms, biologists put it into a computed tomography machine. The device slowly rotates a sample and exposes it to X-rays. Computers then build the image data into a full 3-D model and preserve a sample’s internal structure without so much as a scratch.

Egyptian Blade
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When a museum anthropologist couldn’t safely pry a crumbling leather sheath off of an ancient Egyptian knife (above), he turned to computed tomography. The X-ray scans allowed him to see through the decorative cover and find ornate writing on the blade (below).

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Source: www.wired.com... +Wired+Science%29&pid=1509

Man, I could look at this stuff all day. Just look at the armodillo pic. How can anyone think that there isn't something behind that design... meaning master build by someone else (some great power than we).

Wait till you see the other pics. Just as awesome.

I love the Egyptian blade one. What a tool for scientist. For not to have to destroy or damage something to see inside.... a Dream for them.

I wonder what Science will be like in 100 years? I can't even begin to imagin.

There are some other links at the end of the story at the main article. And there are more pics also. Be sure to check them out.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Come on now- don't be afraid to leave a comment.

Some good stuff....

Very cool to say the least.
Great find.

Originally posted by anon72
Man, I could look at this stuff all day. Just look at the armodillo pic. How can anyone think that there isn't something behind that design... meaning master build by someone else (some great power than we).

That's what Richard Dawkins thought at one time...then he changed his mind.

I wondered if I was unusual because I like looking at skeletal structures like that. I've spent hours walking around the skeleton section of the museum of natural history in Chicago (Field Museum), and marveled at all the similarity between the mammal fossils (as well as other vertebrates, but especially mammals), yet also marveled at the differences. I learned to see animals a whole new way be seeing their skeletons. I'd try to figure out which bone on that horse's foot corresponded to which bone in my own wrist, it's fun to do (for me at least). Maybe it's not as much fun for everyone else because that part of the museum was often relatively empty while larger groups congregated at the more popular exhibits. But I've learned more in a few hours of walking through that part of the museum than in studying books for years.

Museum curators have a lot more technology at their disposal than they used to, so it's nice that the technology can be used to further investigate artifacts, without damaging them. Without technology, you'd basically have to destroy the leather sheath to see the writing on the knife blade.

Thanks for sharing.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


You're welcome but the the thanks should go to you.

Great posting. I am in a state of mind that I envisioned your story. I would be like that, away from the main groups,

So, thank you for sharing.