Scientists create virtual humans

IT sounds like the plot of a Hollywood sci-fi movie, scientists using slices of dead humans to create virtual copies.

But US researchers have done exactly that to create the world’s most detailed digital body, New Scientist reports.

The Visible Human Project researchers, based at the US National Library of Medicine in Maryland, are creating “virtual humans” and using them for medical research.

Sergey Makarov and his team used more than 5 000 slices of an American woman’s frozen cadaver, at one-third of a millimetre intervals, to create a 3D version of the human body.

The 59-year-old woman from Maryland, who was obese and died of heart failure, has not been named. Her body and that of a male were scanned to create the detailed computerised images for the project.

“They have 10 times as much information as an MRI scan,” Dr Fernando Bello, from Imperial College London, told New Scientist.

The digitally reconstructed body is ideal for running experiments too dangerous to try on humans. – The Telegraph