© 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Rapidform is used for scientific research every day, but rarely does it help with such an important discovery as this: ancient human footprints found in Kenya reveal that our ancestors had similar height, weight and walking patterns to us.  Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University in the UK used a 3D scanner to capture these fossilized footprints and studied them with Rapidform.  You can read the news about this fascinating case or examine the paper published in Science, replete with various Rapidform-generated images.

Professor Bennett performed a variety of measurements of the footprints using Rapidform, and generated beautiful color maps showing the depth of each footprint in the prehistoric mud.  The cover of the Feb 27, 2009 issue of Science featured one of these color maps made in Rapidform. This important research made worldwide headlines because the findings represent the oldest evidence of modern-human foot anatomy.

This is another great example of how 3D scanning is being applied to all sorts of important work, from anthropology and medicine to manufacturing and new product development.

Source: Science Magazine [login required to read full article]