PARTICLE PHYSIQUES

摘要

BEHOLD THE RAINBOW INNARDS of a mOUSe, the first creature to be x-rayed in 3-D color. Traditionally, you'd see only bone illumined among the fleshy bits. But the MARS scanner, armed with particle-detecting tech used in CERN's Large Hadron Collider, counts individual photons bouncing through the body, tracking their energy levels to calculate the varying densities of bones and tissues. AI-powered processors then render the various viscera in whatever colors Phil and Anthony Butler prefer. From their base on New Zealand's South Island, the father-and-son scientists spent years collaborating with CERN on techniques for sharpening medical imaging, and in 2007 they scanned their first subject, an apple from lunch, followed by wisdom teeth, Antarctic clams, mice, and, earlier this year, Phil's wrists and ankles-MARS' debut shots of a live human. Was Dad nervous? "The radiation is trivial," Anthony says. While their brainchild waits for government clearance to shoot volunteers, a local museum's mummy, on deck for the next scan, is excited to finally get its close-up.