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3D Imaging for Natural Science — For Free [Hackaday]
It isn’t that unusual for a home lab to have a microscope, but wouldn’t it be cool to have a CT scanner? Well, you probably won’t anytime soon, but if you are interested in scans of vertebrates — you know, animals with backbones — a group of museums have you covered.
The oVert project is scanning 20,000 specimens and making the results available to everyone. This should be a boon to educators and might even be useful for 3D printing animal forms. Check out the video about the project below.
The 20,000 scans should cover about 80% of the vertebrates. Digital images and mesh files are on MorphoSource which is an interesting resource, too. Need a model for a pre-Aztec spindle whorl? They got that.
Of course, it’s not as good as having your own scanner, but it’s still an amazing source of detailed scans that will be a handy resource for educators, researchers, and anyone interested in natural sciences. Maybe the next generation won’t have to dissect frogs.
Of course, you can still dissect robotic dinosaurs. If you really want to get your own scanner, you can find some advice.