Myrmecodia beccarii

Myrmecodia beccarii internal structure
See this image animated, enlarged and rotating by going to the link at the left.

X-ray Computed Tomography is a microscopy technique which provides non-destructive, 3-dimensional inspection of opaque objects. The Australian National University has designed and built a facility which provides 2 micron resolution and very large fields of view (8 billion voxels).

In collaboration with the Australian Partnership for Advanced Supercomputing, the Department of Applied Mathematics is using the technique to explore a variety of systems, such as; the distribution of oil in rocks, how mineralisation affects bone strength, penetration of ink in to paper, granular materials, wood composites, foamed building materials, fossils, and structure and form in natural systems, of which the Ant Plant is a subject.

The ANU is grateful to the ANBG for their generous collaboration.

See the animated AVI file myrmecodia-3D.avi
(Warning: large file: 13,166 KB, slow to load)

Rendering: Ajay Limaye
(Ajay.Limaye@anu.edu.au)
Australian National University Supercomputer Facility
(http://anusf.anu.edu.au/)

Contact for micro-CT: Tim Senden
(Tim.Senden@anu.edu.au)

More micro-CT movies: http://wwwrsphysse.anu.edu.au/appmaths/ct_movies/

Updated 6 August, 2004 , webmaster, ANBG (anbg-info@anbg.gov.au)