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Scanning & 3D Printing The Dead
Another interesting use for our burgeoning suite of scanning/imaging tools married with 3D printing tools is accessing/investigating things we can’t otherwise see or get to.
I just got back from the newest exhibit on mummies at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Mummies: New Secrets From The Tombs is a travelling exhibit from Chicago’s Field Museum showcasing the value of these tools for both research and education. This exhibit featured 20 mummies from Peru and Egypt, often showcased with interactive touch tables populated with imaging data that allows visitors to “unwrap” layers of mummies.
For a whole host of reasons, opening up or otherwise disturbing mummies can be problematic. From worries about damaging or destroying of the mummy itself to issues of cultural sensitivity and religious respect, opening up a given mummy is fraught with potential downsides. CT or MRI-based imaging can allow researchers to looking inside these artifacts. This is nothing new: within four years of the 1972 invention of CT scanning museum researchers were scanning wrapped, intact mummies. The newest twist is our ability to affordably reproduce what we image. These replicates can be used for both research and for education.
In a museum setting, you don’t exactly want visitors handling 4,000 year old artifacts that can be as brittle as a potato chip. But with 3-D printed models, kids can touch, feel, and even play with exact replicas. By manipulating the printer media you can create objects the look, feel, and weigh the same as the originals.
The value of 3-D printing extends well beyond the research realm. While we use these tools for our robotic research, more and more educational applications emerge daily.
Leaving For A Week To SRI!!!
On January 5th, I am leaving on a boat to Santa Rosa Island (SRI). Due to weather conditions, it seems that the boat ride might be a bit rough or if the weather gets worse then the National Parks boat may not depart from Channel Islands National Park headquarters to SRI. I am hoping that the boat will depart and that the ride will be safe.
WRPI-USDA Grant Awarded!
I found out that Dr. Clare Steele and I were awarded the WRPI-USDA Grant for the upcoming semester! The goals of the USDA and regional Watershed Resources and Policy Management is to promote students in real-scientific work. I am really excited to be able to continue the research we are doing on Microplastics in the Sandy Beach ecosystem and specifically its effects on Sand Crabs.
Winter Break = lots of lab time!
Over the break I am finally able to catch up on all my dissections and sand processing. Currently I have gathered over 200 sand crabs from up and down the coast of California to test for microplastics as well as sand samples from each location. This will be a busy winter break!
Trial Run
Finished calibrating the sonde so we decided to do some trial data collection. Here is Paul, Jeyla, and I deploying Adelaide in Calleguas Creek via Cam Park.
Getting together
Trying to get people to agree on a date and time to meet is hard to get down. Even just a conference call is hard to do. Right now Cause Hanna, Erika, Chris and I are trying to get s conference call going.
Leadbetter Beach: ‘Keiki Bowl’ Surf Contest & Marine Pollution Education
This morning Dorothy, Patrick, and I set up a booth at the Lakey Peterson’s Keiki Bowl surf contest put on by the Surf Happens Foundation to raise awareness about the important health of sandy beach ecosystems and the dangers of plastic pollution. Kids loved filtering sand and looking through our field microscope set up for them to see micro plastics in the sand.
work in progress
2015 Marine Mammal Conference
I was lucky enough to attend the 2015 Society of Marine Mammalogy’s Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals this week in San Francisco, and it was an amazing experience! I learned so much, and getting the chance to present at such a large and international conference was a first for me and I am so happy I got the chance to go.
Attending this conference immersed me into the world of marine mammal science. With over 2000 marine mammal scientists around the world in attendance, I learned about research going on all over the world on a wide array of marine mammals. Topics of research on marine mammals included behavior, ecology, human dimensions, acoustics, conservation, distribution, and health and each day was packed with oral presentations, plenary talks, speed talks, and poster presentations by marine mammal scientists from around the world.
The most helpful part of the conference for me was the Student Workshop on Wednesday night. At the workshop I learned about student chapters around the globe, and even one in California. There were also round table discussions led by professionals in the marine mammal field – researchers, government scientists, and others. It was the chance to get advice from professionals and ask questions that you normally wouldn’t get the chance to. Sarah and I were the ONLY undergraduates in attendance to this workshop, the majority were PhD and Masters students, so it was awesome to get that experience. I learned a lot about how to write a proper CV, a paper, and tips for getting jobs, funding for research, and also how to get your research message out there.
Thank you SO much to Dr. Rachel Cartwright and the Keiki Kohola Project for the chance to participate in the research of Hawaii’s Humpback whales and the opportunity to attend this conference.
Santa Rosa Writing Prompts
I have always recognized nature’s importance in my life but I do not usually take into account the thought that humans and nature are connected together. During the Saturday pod with Cause Hanna I realized just how important we can be towards the world. We affect and in many instances destroy the world and although the Earth would be significantly better if it was not inhabited by greedy little homosapiens. However the connection with nature was ever present as we were hiking through the island and looking at the shrubbery I realized that man affects nature and then has to try to fix it. For example: the sheep that destroyed the previous greenery were removed and now the faculty and students are trying to restore it. However the world affects us as well, the natural disasters that happen uproot lives and cities but there are beautiful moments in nature when you feel as one. Chemically we need the nature so that we can live and biologically we are bound to the earth but most importantly we are bound atomically, humans are directly linked to the earth. We breathe in nature, we are made out of stardust and we hold a certain amount “power” over the future of the planet whether that be in a good or bad path.
Not only did I feel connected to the island but I was also able to experience this through the eyes of four different professors. Each professor let us “see” the island in different ways. Matt Furmansky showed us the flow of nature and how it can be incorporated into any form of art, Dr. Alisson Alvarado let us glimpse into the world of genealogy and the correlation between species. Cause Hanna taught us a brief overview of what it is like to work with living organisms as well obtaining them, each professor brought us a different perspective of nature but they all shared the same awe of what nature is capable of doing. It was odd laying down on the bed and being able to hear everything that was going on outside, the chirping of the birds, the gusts of wind or the rustling of the trees. Being able to simply lay down and feel connected to my surroundings is odd to me, I usually hear cars or people when I am laying down, not the peace and tranquility that was there in the island.
Although it may sound cheesy or cliché, everything we as humans do directly impacts the Earth. Whether it is in a good or bad way is up to us but in the end each move we make changes the world and defines our lives. The way we treat others and nature is a reflection upon ourselves and who we are, the Santa Rosa Island retreat really defined that for me. No matter the place or time we are still one with nature because without it we would be nothing.
