Watanabe Discusses Collaborative Project

Smithsonian Magazine interviewed NYITCOM Associate Professor of Anatomy Akinobu Watanabe, Ph.D., about a project that he collaborated on with New York University, which provides a less expensive way for scientists to digitize fossil collections and preserve at-risk specimens. He notes that the device, known as PaleoScan, could be an especially critical tool in historically underserved nations and institutions.

“Empowering resource-poor museums and institutions [with the ability] to scan their own fossils and provide virtual versions to the rest of the world, I think, would really help the scientific community, but also the institutions themselves,” says Watanabe. “I think it’s a game changer.”