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Adam Summers wants to be the best, like no one ever was. To scan fish is his quest. To upload them is his cause.
Summers is a professor of comparative biomechanics at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs, and he's spent the past few months scanning and sharing dozens of fish insides. "I'm using a CT scanner that allows you to visualize 3-D skeletal maps," he says. "You see fine detail that's incredibly important for telling one fish from another." Which isn't just so ichthyologists can resolve esoteric taxonomy arguments. Summers focuses on bio-inspired design, using fish morphology as inspiration for new technology. "I look for how fish stick to things, fish that burrow, and fish that wear armor," he says. |
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The clingfish family, for instance, has more than a hundred and fifty species, each with modified pelvic fins that let them stick to stuff. They're all pretty small, and to the untrained eye, all pretty much look alike. But each is specialized to cling to different things. Some cling to algae, some cling to reefs, some cling to urchins. "By scanning the clingfish, you can see performance on all different size structures," says Summers.
And with a 3-D printer, he can enlarge his digital models into physical models. Via Skype, Summers holds up a gigantic, plastic lizard-like skull. "This is from a salamander smaller than your index finger," he says, working the jaw to show the articulation. "By taking these little fish and printing them out, I'm able to understand how they work." |
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