SGER: High-resolution digital scanning of the Thermopolis Archaeopteryx

高分辨率数字扫描瑟莫波利斯始祖鸟雅克·戈蒂埃和瑞安·卡尼，耶鲁大学始祖鸟化石（意为古老的翅膀）是最早和最原始的飞行恐龙，生活在大约1.5亿年前的侏罗纪时期。它是灭绝恐龙和现代鸟类之间关键的缺失环节，属于与电影《侏罗纪公园》中著名的猛禽关系最密切的一组恐龙。瑟莫波利斯标本是已知的10种始祖鸟化石中最完整、保存最完好的，其壮观的质量使其成为了解早期飞行进化的关键标本，并坚定地将其置于长达几个世纪的鸟类起源辩论的中心。 标本将在加州利弗莫尔的国家安全研究机构劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室（LLNL）进行扫描。这种特殊的扫描过程，以前从未在古生物学中使用过，将结合联合收割机几种不同的最先进的数字扫描技术，通常用于扫描航天飞机机翼和核弹头，以获得前所未有的三维化石分辨率。此外，鉴于该项目令人兴奋和新颖的性质，LLNL承诺大幅降低扫描费用，从而提供不仅质量更好，而且价格比其他地方更便宜的扫描。然而，在2009年夏天扫描这个私人拥有的标本的机会之窗很窄，这给这个前所未有的机会增加了紧迫性。 扫描将以数字方式保存这一重要化石，供未来科学研究和教育使用。它将提供一个机会，以高分辨率3D检查始祖鸟的整个解剖结构，并将其与其最近的亲属鳄鱼和鸽子进行比较。研究结果将在网上公布，供科学家和公众查阅。这还可能包括可以通过网络浏览器操作的交互式3D图像和动画，这将使公众能够轻松地可视化和理解与解剖学和进化相关的复杂概念。 该项目的数据将反过来刺激后续研究中的创新研究。这包括一个预期的项目，以3D重建和动画始祖鸟的骨骼和肌肉，以研究这种动物能够飞行的程度。这些后续的研究可能会提供关键的新见解，以树下与地面上的飞行起源的辩论，并大大提高我们对鸟类进化的理解。这些研究结果将通过博物馆展览、向公众进行科学介绍以及以非科学家可以理解和有用的格式出版的各种材料，向广大受众传播。这些努力将产生更广泛的影响，促进地理上代表性不足的群体的全球参与，并从根本上提高进化科学的教学和理解。

High Resolution Digital Scanning ofthe Thermopolis ArchaeopteryxJacques Gautier and Ryan Carney, Yale UniversityThe fossil bird Archaeopteryx (meaning ancient wing), the earliest and most primitive flying dinosaur, lived in the Jurassic Period around 150 million years ago. It is the critical missing link between extinct dinosaurs and modern birds, and belonged to a group of dinosaurs most closely related to the raptors made famous in the movie, Jurassic Park. The spectacular quality of the Thermopolis specimen, the most complete and best-preserved of the ten known Archaeopteryx fossils makes this a key specimen for understanding the early evolution of flight, and firmly places it in the center of centuries-long debate on the origin of birds. The specimen will be scanned in Livermore, California at the national security research facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This particular scanning process, never before used in paleontology, will combine several different state-of-the-art digital scanning technologies normally used to scan space shuttle wings and nuclear warheads to obtain unprecedented resolution of the fossil in 3D. Additionally, given the exciting and novel nature of this project, LLNL has pledged to substantially reduce the scanning charges, thereby providing scans that are not only of better quality, but at a better price than what could be achieved elsewhere. However, the narrow window of opportunity to scan this privately-owned specimen in summer of 2009 adds urgency to this unprecedented opportunity. Scanning will digitally preserve this important fossil for future scientific study and educational use. It will provide the opportunity to examine the entire anatomy of Archaeopteryx in high-resolution 3D, and compare it to that of its closest living relatives, the alligator and the pigeon. Results will be published and made available online for scientists and the public. This may also include interactive 3D images and animations that can be manipulated through web browsers, which would allow the public to easily visualize and understand complex concepts related to anatomy and evolution. The data from this project will in turn spur innovative research in a number of subsequent studies as well. This includes an anticipated project to reconstruct and animate the skeleton and muscles of Archaeopteryx in 3D, in order to study how well this animal was able to fly. These subsequent studies may provide crucial new insights into the trees down vs. ground up origin-of-flight debate, and greatly enhance our understanding of the evolution of birds. Such findings will reach broad audiences through museum exhibits, scientific presentations to the public, and diverse published material in formats understandable and useful to non-scientists. These efforts will have Broader Impacts for promoting the global participation of geographically-underrepresented groups, and for fundamentally enhancing the teaching and understanding of evolutionary science.