THIS three-dimensional picture of a worker bee鈥檚 head can be sliced at
any angle to reveal the tiny features inside. The image on the right shows a
section cut through the insect鈥檚 eyes.
The pictures were taken at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire using a
technique called microtomography. The procedure is similar to that used for
medical computerised tomography scans, but it relies on the intense X-rays from
the laboratory鈥檚 synchrotron radiation source to give a resolution of just 20
micrometres鈥攆ifty times as sharp as standard CT scans. Synchrotron
radiation can penetrate most materials. Because the beam is so intense,
researchers can filter out all but one wavelength without losing too much of the
beam鈥檚 penetrating power, and this gives a sharper image.
The sample is mounted in the X-ray beam and an array of detectors records the
varying intensity of the energy passing through it. The sample stage is then
rotated and the process is repeated. Hundreds of these snapshots are combined to
form a 3D image.
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鈥淣ext we鈥檙e going to image the distribution of zinc in locusts鈥� `teeth鈥�,鈥�
says Barry Dobson, one of the Daresbury team. Zinc may be the ingredient that
makes the insects鈥� mouthparts so hard.