CT Scans and 3D Printers Used to Recreate Dinosaur Fossil Buried During WWII

German researchers have used a combination of computed tomography (CT) scans along with three dimensional (3D) printers to recreate accurate copies of dinosaur fossils.

Published in the journal Radiology, the combination of the two techniques gives the scientists an opportunity to investigate rare and fragile dinosaur fossils in a non-destructive manner.

When the fossils of different specimens are transported, they are often encased in plaster casts or jackets in order to prevent any damage. These casings need to be removed with care from the fossils. Also the sediments holding the fossil fragments should be carefully separated. If this unveiling and unwrapping process is not handled properly, crucial material is lost and at time leads to the destruction of the fossil itself. Such incidents result in the loss of historical data.

This is the first time that scientists from the Department of Radiology at Charite Campus Mitte, Berlin, have proposed the use of a combination of CT scans and 3D printers to separate the fossil bone from the surrounding sediments without causing any damage and also produce a 3D print of the fossilized bone.

"The most important benefit of this method is that it is non-destructive, and the risk of harming the fossil is minimal," study author Ahi Sema Issever, M.D., from the Department of Radiology at Charite Campus Mitte in Berlin, said in a statement. "Also, it is not as time-consuming as conventional preparation."

The scientists used this combination of techniques for several unidentified fossils housed at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin. These fossils were found buried under rubble in the basement of the museum after a World War II bombing. Ever since these fossil fragments were discovered, the museum authorities found it extremely challenging to sort and identify them.

They began by conducting CT scans of the unidentified fossils with a 320-slice multi detector system and they compared it to the old excavation drawings. The scans offered information on the condition and integrity of the specimen and helped the researchers construct an accurate copy of the fossil. Doing so, helped the researchers to trace the origin of the fossils to the Halberstadt excavation- which was a major excavation site from 1910-1927 in South of Germany.

One of the scans revealed a dinosaur vertebra that was nearly 8 inches long and 6 inches wide that belonged to the Plateosaurus dinosaur, a Late Triassic period herbivore that grows 33 feet in length, source Huffington Post.

Dr. Issever concluded saying, "The digital dataset and, ultimately, reproductions of the 3-D print may easily be shared, and other research facilities could thus gain valuable informational access to rare fossils, which otherwise would have been restricted. Just like Gutenberg's printing press opened the world of books to the public, digital datasets and 3-D prints of fossils may now be distributed more broadly, while protecting the original intact fossil."