Studying Fossils in Unprecedented Detail

OK, we can't bring fossil creatures back to life. But we can study them with a new and astonishing level of precision, thanks to an international team's pioneering work with high-powered X-rays and computer imaging systems. Synchrotron-radiation X-ray tomography was developed on embryos of two worm-like animals: fossils 500 million years old and less than one millimeter in size. These were imaged in such detail that scientists could map previously invisible anatomical features to those of animal lineages we know today.