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CANTON, Ga. (AP) — A model of an orangutan brain, created by 16-year-old Creekview High School sophomore Joshua McFarlin, will travel across the Atlantic Ocean to be featured in the Paris Musee de l'Homme exhibit on human evolution later this year.
McFarlin created the 3D printed model during a one week mini-internship over spring break at George Washington University's Laboratory for Evolutionary Neuroscience in Washington, D.C., and his work will be on display when the Paris museum reopens in October, after being closed for a six-year renovation.
"It was an amazing experience to work in GW's Anthropology Department," McFarlin said. "My favorite part of the project was conducting the actual research and printing out the 3D models."
Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University Dr. Chet Sherwood said McFarlin was selected for the internship based on his skills in computer programming and hardware design.
The project involved "piloting and testing of a pipeline to produce digital 3D models of brains from a diversity of animals based on photogrammetry," Sherwood wrote in a letter outlining the project.
McFarlin said the difficult part of his experience wasn't the project itself, but writing a research document that outlined his work for others.
"The intimidating part was writing the longest paper I had ever written in my life, knowing it wasn't for school or a grade, but to document my work so adult researchers could use it in their own work. There were one or two times I wished we had gone to the beach for spring break. But in the end, hearing the brain model will be displayed in a museum made this one of the most interesting and important experiences of my life."
For the weeklong project, McFarlin used 59 digital photographs of the orangutan brain taken from different angles and a program to combine them into a 3D rendering.
The end result of the program was a detailed and accurate 3D model of the brain shown on a computer screen. After completing the rendering, McFarlin turned the image into life-size 3D printed casts of the brain.
Researchers had previously tried to make 3D replicas of intact brains, using dental molds, but ran into problems when the process damaged the brains.
Using the computer program and photogrammetry, researchers can now share digital models of brains without the risk of damaging specimens.
Sherwood said the university's Department of Anthropology has more than 600 brain specimens, including one of the largest collections of mammal brain in the world.
"Researchers use the specimens to characterize and analyze variation in brain structure, comparing the brains of humans to diverse species including chimpanzees, gorillas, whales, elephants, tigers and many others," he said.
McFarlin's model will be displayed in the Musee de l'Homme, or "Museum of Man," in Paris, in the upcoming exhibit on human evolution, set to open in October.
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Information from: The Cherokee Tribune, http://www.cherokeetribune.com/
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