fossils
World’s Best Preserved Merck’s Rhino Gets 3D Printed Backup
In May 2016, a construction team in Poland was working on the initial stages of building a highway, when they stumbled across a skeleton. According to Dr Krzysztof Stefaniak from…
Ancient Cephalopods Swam Vertically, 3D Printed Replicas Reveal
There are multiple examples of 3D printing, 3D scanning, and other related technologies being used to help shed light on, and answer questions about, creatures that walked this planet long…
3D Printed Fossil Replicas Reveal Ancient Megalodon Was Even Bigger
A few years ago, researchers from the University of Florida conducted a case study about their National Science Foundation-funded program iDigFossils, featuring curriculum on subjects like evolution and climate change and using…
3D Printing Keeps a Head on Dippy the Dinosaur’s Shoulders
Standing at 25 to 30 meters long and weighing approximately 16 tons, the gargantuan Diplodocus carnegii dinosaur roamed the Earth during the Jurassic period, masticating vegetation that had been stripped…
Dinosaur Fossil’s Secrets Unlocked Through 3D Scanning and 3D Printing
200 million years ago, South Africa was home to an herbivorous (though possibly omnivorous at one point) dinosaur called Massospondylus. It stood on two legs and was about 4-6 meters…
3D Printing to Help Complete Fossil That Led to New Species Discovery
You never know what you’re going to find in storage – photographs you forgot existed, clothing that’s become valuably vintage, the fossil of an extinct species that’s never been identified…
3D Printing and CT Scanning Lead to New Discoveries About Ancient Fish
The study of evolution is an ongoing one, and is rather like a jigsaw puzzle. Scientists are constantly discovering how new pieces fit into the map that shows how creatures…
Enjoy This Dead Fly Encased in a 3D Print: Is it Art, a Valuable Fossil, or Evidence of the Anthropocene Era?
Are you one of those people who swats flies to their death with wild abandon, wielding the fly swatter as a lethal weapon? Many of us are serious about ridding…
How University of Florida Researchers are Using 3D Printing and Digital Fossils to Improve Education
A recently conducted case study on the effectiveness of utilizing 3D printing technology to teach intricate subjects within science to young students showcases what researchers from the University of Florida have…
Should Scientists Reconsider the Romer’s Gap? Paleontologist Thinks So, After 3D Scanning Reveals Ancient Tetrapod Fossil Inside a Rock
Most humans enjoy something that is of great importance to our place in the natural history of the world, but that you likely don’t even think about much, unless you’re…
3D Technology Helps Democratize Science as CMU Studies 3D Printed Homo Nadeli Fossils
While millennials may be a study in the modern human species all on their own, when it comes to their role in science today, it’s one of taking initiative and…
Italian Paleontologist Turns to Materialise to Help 3D Print Trilobite Fossils
Although—in the grand scheme of things—3D printing is a relatively new technology in the eyes of humanity, that certainly doesn’t mean that it can’t be used to recreate some of…
Using 3D Printers to Unlock Secrets of Humanity’s Distant Past
In 2013, recreational cavers Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker decided to squeeze themselves through an 8″ vertical chute for a distance of nearly 40 feet in the Rising Star cave system….
3D Scanning and 3D Printing Help Bring 122-Foot Titanosaur Fossil Replica to Life
Back in 2014 a farmer in Argentina found what looked like fossilized dinosaur bones, so he contacted the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio. They sent out researchers to examine the…
Showcasing the Beauty of a Trilobite through 3D Printing
Alas, the humble trilobite will probably never star in its own Saturday morning cartoon or make it into next year’s lineup of Beanie Babies, mostly because it is distinctly unhuggable….
New Zealand Scientists Bring Extinct Birds Back Through 3D Scanning
The extinction of a species is a heartbreaking thought, especially when you consider that some of our most beloved species, like monarch butterflies, frogs and toads, and bats are threatened,…
Letting Dinosaurs Roam in their Natural Habitats with 3D Technology
It is hard to find anybody who didn’t find dinosaurs interesting at least at some point, whether a passing fancy as a child or a lifelong career as a paleontologist,…
3D Print Your Own Fossils Thanks to MorphoSource
In 2013, a group of paleoanthropologists led by Lee Berger embarked on a three-week exploration of a South African cave. Known as the Rising Star Expedition, the exploration resulted in…
Autodesk & Dr. Louise Leakey Share 3.3-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools with the World via 3D Printing
The increasingly more sophisticated tools that allow us to progress scientifically and technologically, that assist us in moving more confidently into the future, also provide us with methods for uncovering…
PaleoPrint 3D Fossil Printing Looking for a Kickstarter Push
Paleontology, the study of what fossils can tell us about the ecology of the past and about evolution, now incorporates facets of biology, geology, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and computer science….
Making Discoveries about Human Evolution Using 3D Technology
It has already been demonstrated numerous times that 3D printing replicas of delicate or rare artifacts and fossils is an excellent way of sharing them with students and conveying the…
Studying the Fossil Record Using 3D Technologies and Reality Computing
If you lived in Scotland over 410 million years ago, you might have seen a creature called a trigonotarbid, a member of a now extinct group of arachnids. Assuming, however,…
Reconstructing a Newly Discovered Extinct Species of Crocodilian Using 3D Printing & Scanning
First appearing over 83 million years ago, were a species of large, predatorial reptiles now known as crocodilians, with their tough skins, sharp teeth and extremely strong jaws. Today, there…
