An innovative scanner developed by an NYU computer scientist is revolutionizing the preservation of ancient fossils in remote South American regions. Claudio Silva’s PaleoScan enables the digitization of previously isolated fossils, preventing them from being lost or smuggled. The Araripe Basin in Brazil, known for its pristine ancient fossils, lacked the resources to digitize its extensive collection, making it vulnerable to illegal trafficking. Silva’s solution, PaleoScan, is a portable, affordable, and high-throughput scanner designed to create 3D reconstructions of fossils for paleontologists worldwide. The device uploads processed data to the cloud, enabling easy access and sharing among researchers. Over 200 fossils have already been digitized at the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Museum of Paleontology. The response from the paleontology community has been positive, sparking interest in expanding the scanner’s availability to other regions. Silva is already working on an upgraded model to meet the diverse needs of different fossil collections. Learn more about PaleoScan’s impact and future in the research paper and Smithsonian Magazine’s detailed coverage.
