Visualizing a sightless world: 3D Imaging of the Proteus reveals adaptation for life in the dark

A showcase of evolutionary designed sensory organs is revealed through high-resolution images of the head of the exclusively cave-dwelling blind salamander, Proteus anguinus. The work, carried out by an international collaboration led by Czech scientists Jozef Kaiser and Marketa Tesarova, used X-ray computed microtomography to produce stunning 3D reconstructions of the soft tissue in the head of the proteus. The research has been published in GigaScience, which includes colorized 3D reconstructions in an easy-to-explore online models as part of the article. Here is a video summary of that work.
Read the research in GigaScience:
Tesařová M et al. Living in darkness: Exploring adaptation of Proteus anguinus in 3D by X-ray imaging. Gigascience. 2022 11: giac030. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giac030.
Article link: academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
Download the 3D models in Sketchfab:
sketchfab.com/GigaDB/collecti...
Music by: SuperColourFuture