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CSI Woods Hole

January 27, 2012

At WHOI, CSI stands for Computerized Scanning and Imaging Lab. The lab, which is a part of the Institution’s Marine Mammal Center, has a CT scanner dedicated to marine research that produces 3-D images of samples ranging from whole or parts of animals to geologic features such as hydrothermal vent chimneys. Above, the head of a whale that died on a beach is about to be scanned. The images let scientists view internal anatomical structures intact—something not possible via traditional dissection methods. A particular focus of the CSI Lab is exploring what and how marine animals sense sound, and MIT/WHOI Joint Program graduate student Maya Yamato is investigating the largely unknown sensory system of baleen whales.(Photo by Maya Yamato, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)