By diving virtually into the core of a Chinese puzzle ball, CWI researchers made a surprising discovery.
BRAM BELLONI
ROBERT VAN LIERE
All of this Kinder Surprise Egg’s secrets will be unlocked by the FleX-ray scanner.
old censorship was undone. Leendert Cornelisse Romeijn was the author’s name. Amazing research objects were also the Rijksmuseum’s Chinese puzzle balls. These ivory works of art once served as showpieces in Chinese palace halls. The balls give the illusion of a hollow ball floating in a hollow ball in a hollow ball, with each ball containing its own geometrically cut patterns. Analysis in the FleX-ray revealed that some of the puzzle balls contain twelve or more layers, and that they end in a hidden solid ivory core. By diving into the core virtually, experts came up with a surprising discovery: the balls are not made of ivory from Asian elephants, but from African elephants. Therefore, ivory trade must have flourished between China and sub-Saharan Africa a long time ago.
Hidden fingerprint Researchers of the Rijksmuseum knock on the door of the FleX-ray Lab with increasing regularity, hoping to make more discoveries of this kind. Wearing special gloves, they bring in precious robes, statuettes or paintings, under the supervision of PhD student 14 | New Scientist | Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica
‘I am constantly thinking: hey, what would I discover if I put this object in the FleX-ray?’ Francien Bossema. ‘Sometimes art historians are sceptical about what a mathematical institute can do for them,’ says Bossema. ‘But soon enough they are staring at the results on the screen with wide eyes.’ In the middle of a terracotta statue of an angel, the CI group found a hidden fingerprint. ‘Super interesting, because in the past people thought this statue was made by Michelangelo and many millions were paid for it,’ Bossema says. When doubts later arose, its value plummeted. Exactly who made it is unknown. ‘A colleague is now formulating algorithms to translate the 3D fingerprints into the 2D form of fingerprints in data bases. Then perhaps we can settle this matter once and for all.’
The possibilities of real-time 3D CT scanning extend far beyond the world of statuettes and puzzle balls. Surgeons – and their patients – will benefit enormously from more precise identification of the location and shape of a tumour. Companies see potential in another area: quality control. Coban has already scanned a shipment of apples and found fly eggs in them. ‘We also compared the inner structure of chicken with that of vegetarian meat,’ says Tristan van Leeuwen, future leader of the CI group. ‘The impact of these kinds of scans will soon be experienced in everyday life. Especially if we manage to create a self-learning system. Now, each scan requires manual finetuning. I want the system to recognize for itself: “This is a walnut; I have seen it before and then settings x and y were best. I will do that again.” If we manage to do that, we will soon have products in stores that have been taken to a higher level thanks to real-time 3D CT scanning.’ Starting with, if it is up to Sophia Coban, apples without fly eggs and chocolate eggs without air bubbles.