A high performance scanner opened at the Museum

The skulls of prehistoric humans, insects, meteorites ... Nothing should stand AST-RX, a new scanner for advanced exploration of 3D objects in the natural sciences. In tests since last May, this tool worth € 876,000 opened yesterday at the National Museum of Natural History (5th).

Designed specifically for the needs of the Museum, AST-ray scanner is described as "the most powerful in the world." "This will allow us to realize an old dream: to cross the field to access the interior of precious objects," said Gaël Clement, one of the two scientists responsible for the CT scan. The other chief scientist, Antoine Balzeau, does not hide his enthusiasm: "The characteristic of this scanner through existing is that it allows a wide field of view. We can study objects from a few millimeters to 80 cm. This no another tool in the world can do. "AST-RX is a solution to the above rules with a detector twice normal. Gilles Boeuf, president of the museum, says that "one can explore the inside of an insect trapped for thirty million years in amber, or a brain scan fossilized shark 300 million years without changing." Mickaël Bosredon