27 February 2021 | New Scientist | 27Inside story
Image Gary Ruben, Florian Schaff,
Marcus Kitchen, Steve Morton.
School of Physics & Astronomy,
Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia
INTRICATELY preserved with its
internal make-up laid bare, this
composite image of a mummified
Schlegel’s Japanese gecko (Gekko
japonicus) shows the power of the
high-energy X-rays emitted by a
special type of particle accelerator.
Gary Ruben, Florian Schaff,
Marcus Kitchen and Steve
Morton at Monash University in
Melbourne, Australia, captured the
image with a synchrotron, which
accelerates electrons to close to
the speed of light so that they emit
high-energy X-rays. The main
difference between a synchrotron’s
X-rays and those from a hospital
X-ray machine is brilliance: a
synchrotron can produce X-rays
that are 100 billion times brighter.
Synchrotron beams can also be
produced at a specified wavelength,
letting them reveal more about
specimens by distinguishing
between very subtle changes in
density. This makes synchrotrons
a promising candidate for
obtaining better medical images
of humans in the future.
“The gecko was an interesting
specimen to show the fine detail
we can achieve,” says Morton. The
particularly high-intensity beams
of radiation from a synchrotron
increase the image’s contrast and
reduce exposure times, he says,
helping with the clarity and
visibility of the image.
The team could even get a
3D shot of the gecko by capturing
it from thousands of different
angles in the synchrotron’s X-ray
beam before combining the views
and using a computer to remove
image artefacts and to distinguish
between materials, such as tissues,
for example. ❚
Gege Li