Neutron tomography for understanding the evolution of life
(2008) 8th World Conference on Neutron Radiography, WCNR-8 p.448-451- Abstract
Most organisms that ever lived on Earth lacked skeletons and have therefore escaped preservation in the geological record. This fact makes it hard to accurately trace the evolution of multicellular organisms and the tree of life. However a handful faunas did get exceptionally well-preserved, including their soft-bodied members, just when complex lifeforms diverged 550 million years ago. Geochemical analyses of rock surrounding the fossils reveal some of the sea chemistry that prevailed at the time, information then used to simulate this specific type of fossil preservation. Fragile samples of soft tissue and clay have been fixated at different stages of decomposition and inspected via cold neutron tomography. First measurements have... (More)
Most organisms that ever lived on Earth lacked skeletons and have therefore escaped preservation in the geological record. This fact makes it hard to accurately trace the evolution of multicellular organisms and the tree of life. However a handful faunas did get exceptionally well-preserved, including their soft-bodied members, just when complex lifeforms diverged 550 million years ago. Geochemical analyses of rock surrounding the fossils reveal some of the sea chemistry that prevailed at the time, information then used to simulate this specific type of fossil preservation. Fragile samples of soft tissue and clay have been fixated at different stages of decomposition and inspected via cold neutron tomography. First measurements have rendered visualizations where different types of tissue, and internal structures, can be distinguished. Further exploration is necessary but results so far indicate that neutron radiography can be a non-destructive mean for monitoring geobiological processes.
(Less)
- author
- Hammarlund, E. LU ; Schillinger, Burkhard and Calzada, Elbio
- publishing date
- 2008
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- 8th World Conference on Neutron Radiography, WCNR-8
- editor
- Arif, Muhammad and Downing, R. Gregory
- pages
- 4 pages
- conference name
- 8th World Conference on Neutron Radiography, WCNR-8
- conference location
- Gaithersburg, MD, United States
- conference dates
- 2006-10-16 - 2006-10-19
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:70349336413
- ISBN
- 9781932078749
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- b61dbf08-aef0-4c72-a04c-dfb655797957
- date added to LUP
- 2017-05-17 11:28:01
- date last changed
- 2022-01-30 20:17:43
@inproceedings{b61dbf08-aef0-4c72-a04c-dfb655797957,
abstract = {{<p>Most organisms that ever lived on Earth lacked skeletons and have therefore escaped preservation in the geological record. This fact makes it hard to accurately trace the evolution of multicellular organisms and the tree of life. However a handful faunas did get exceptionally well-preserved, including their soft-bodied members, just when complex lifeforms diverged 550 million years ago. Geochemical analyses of rock surrounding the fossils reveal some of the sea chemistry that prevailed at the time, information then used to simulate this specific type of fossil preservation. Fragile samples of soft tissue and clay have been fixated at different stages of decomposition and inspected via cold neutron tomography. First measurements have rendered visualizations where different types of tissue, and internal structures, can be distinguished. Further exploration is necessary but results so far indicate that neutron radiography can be a non-destructive mean for monitoring geobiological processes.</p>}},
author = {{Hammarlund, E. and Schillinger, Burkhard and Calzada, Elbio}},
booktitle = {{8th World Conference on Neutron Radiography, WCNR-8}},
editor = {{Arif, Muhammad and Downing, R. Gregory}},
isbn = {{9781932078749}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{448--451}},
title = {{Neutron tomography for understanding the evolution of life}},
year = {{2008}},
}