* Astronomy

Hominid fossils are the most important materials to explore human origins and evolution. Since most hominid fossils are incomplete, or filled with a heavy calcified matrix, it is difficult or often impossible to reconstruct the endocast in a real fossil without destroying it. Accordingly, traditional methods limited the study of human brain evolution. CT can explore fossils in a non-invasive way by transforming a real fossil into a virtual object, and make it possible for paleoanthropologists to extend the study of fossil specimens from the exterior to the interior. A new research, led by Wu Xiujie from Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, is reported in Volume 53, Issue16 of Chinese Science Bulletin. Using high-resolution industrial CT, the Homo Liujiang brain image was reconstructed.

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