If you thoughtusing a 3D printerwas the epitome of cool, think again. One of the latest gadgets on the market,3D scanners正在生命中不可能，包括不再漫游这种地球的生物。
There is little doubt that the CU Museum of Natural History’s claim to fame is its huge fossil skull of an ancient Triceratops that wandered the earth some 83 million year ago. Those not able to visit the museum at the CU Boulder Campus need not despair. Dinosaur-enthusiasts can now examine aninteractive 3D scanof the museum’s Triceratops skull without leaving the comfort of their own home.
“当你去家庭日时，你会看到博尔德校区地质研究系教授的教授，你会看到孩子挤在我们的三角体周围。“我认为这一点是教育视角和研究潜力很重要。”
The 3D scan is the handiwork of the students who took part in Boulder’s first-ever course on technological breakthroughs that can change how we interact with the past. The students collected scans that recorded every detail of the skull with a special 3D scanning device. The shots were then fused to create an exact 3D copy of the original object, which can be rotated and zoomed in and out on your laptop.
“These new technologies can help us to better share information and data between researchers, but also develop materials for educating the public,” said Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology.
William Taylor, who leads the museum’s Archaeozoology Lab says that digitizing the museum’s collections is definitely a step in the right direction, as many of the bones are extremely fragile. “It’s become an ethical obligation to fully digitize these specimens and share them with the world,” he said. “In our museum, we’re taking care of a huge amount of Colorado’s past.”
The museum’s impressive Triceratops skull was discovered way back in 1891 near the town of Lance Creek in Wyoming. It was displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. until the late 1970s when it was loaned to CU Boulder.
