Scientists Snap First 3‑D Colour X‑Ray of a Human!
On July 13, 2018, researchers in New Zealand stole the spotlight with a groundbreaking medical imaging breakthrough: the very first 3‑D, colour X‑ray performed on a living human. This slick tech, inspired by the particle‑tracking wizardry of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (made famous by the Higgs Boson discovery in 2012), promises to give doctors sharper, more vivid snapshots of the body.
What’s the Buzz About?
- Not your usual ghost‑white X‑ray – this new device colors the images, letting you actually see bone, muscle, cartilage, and even tumours at a glance.
- Borrowed from high‑energy physics – the trick comes from Medipix, a camera that counts individual sub‑atomic particles doodling across its tiny pixels.
- High‑resolution, high‑contrast – thanks to those tiny pixels and excellent energy resolution, the pictures boast clarity no other scanner can match.
Why It Matters
CERN’s own brief on the tech said, “This colour X‑ray imaging technique could produce clearer and more accurate pictures and help doctors give their patients more accurate diagnoses.” And digging a bit deeper, Phil Butler from the University of Canterbury was quoted as saying the small pixel layout “lets this imaging tool pull out details that no other device can achieve.”
Seeing is Believing
What the images clearly reveal: distinct bone versus muscle versus cartilage layers, plus the exact location and size of pesky cancerous tumours. It’s like having a high‑definition drone fly inside your body—no wonder it’s a game‑changer for diagnosing and planning treatments.
From Labs to Life‑Saving Tech
The innovation was nurtured by the University of Canterbury and the University of Otago, but it’s now being brought to market by MARS Bioimaging, a New Zealand company dedicated to turning science into real‑world solutions.