The Nano-CT device can create 3D-X-ray images of very small objects, such as the tiny legs of velvet worms (pictured: Euperipatoides rowelli). (image: Mayer / University of Kassel / reproduced with permission from PNAS)
Research news Computer Tomography (CT) is a standard procedure in hospitals, but so far, the technology has not been suitable for imaging extremely small objects. In PNAS, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) describes a Nano-CT device that creates three-dimensional x-ray images at resolutions up to 100 nanometers. The first test application: Together with colleagues from the University of Kassel and Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht the researchers analyzed the locomotory system of a velvet worm. During a CT analysis, the object under investigation is x-rayed and a detector measures the respective amount of radiation absorbed from various angles. Three-dimensional images of the inside of the object can be constructed based on several such measurements. Up until now, however, the technology reached its limits when it came to objects as small as the tiny, 0.4 millimeter long legs of the velvet worm (Onychophora). High-resolution images of this magnitude required radiation from particle accelerators, yet there are only a few dozen such facilities in Europe.
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