Van de Kamp
The scientists used a high-powered X-ray scanner to take images of the ants.
Many ant species look similar from far away. But up close, each one is unique! To showcase the diversity of ants, scientists created 3-D models of more than 3,000 of them for a project called Antscan.
Scientists collected ant species samples from museums and took them to Germany. The team then scanned the ants with X-rays created by a particle accelerator. This machine gave them detailed images of both the interior and exterior of the ants’ bodies.
The 3-D scans are free for anyone to download online. “You could use the data for teaching, to create art projects, or maybe even use the models to integrate into digital movies,” says Thomas van de Kamp, a scientist working on Antscan.