Australian researchers from the Universities of New South Wales and Newcastle have developed a virtual chimp skull that will help palaeontologists study evolution, as well as allow technologists to design better crash helmets.
Melbourne, Aug 8 : Australian researchers from the Universities of New South Wales and Newcastle have developed a virtual chimp skull that will help palaeontologists study evolution, as well as allow technologists to design better crash helmets.
"It's the most sophisticated model of a chimp skull ever made," said Dr Stephen Wroe, a University of New South Wales palaeontologist.
Dr Wroe's team built the 3D computer model by collecting data on the geometry and density of a chimp skull, using computer tomography.
They then analysed the data using advanced engineering software, of the kind used to virtually crash test everything from wing nuts to the space shuttle.
As the virtual skull chomped, the software modelled how all the stresses and strains of eating got distributed through the different bones of the skull.
"The surface bone is different from internal bones in the skull and these bones have different properties," said Dr Wroe.
The team now plans to build virtual skulls for a whole range of hominids including Neanderthals, Homo erectus, the robust Australopithecines as well as modern humans, to study such things as the evolution of feeding mechanics in hominds.
Dr Wroe said this would help palaeontologists settle a few debates in evolution.
For example, it could help tell whether the robust hominids had a very specialised or broad diet. This in turn, could help provide evidence for or against theories that suggest the robust kind died out because they had a specialised diet, said Dr Wroe.
He said the virtual skulls could also be used to study whether the prominent chin of modern humans or the Neanderthal's heavy brow ridge were an advantage or disadvantage, from a skull-engineering point of view.
These apart, the technology would prove useful in other areas of science including biomedicine and safety science, he said.
He said his team has already built the most realistic virtual crash helmet yet.
Helmets with different specifications could be virtually crash tested with a virtual skull inside them to help researchers work out the most effective combination of helmet materials to use, said Dr Wroe.
Dr Wroe further said the technology could as well be used to simulate different surgical procedures used to mend broken skulls, adding that his team is currently working on this aspect with a surgeon.
A paper describing the research is scheduled for publication in the journal Anatomical Record A, reports ABC online.
ANI