Cineradiography

There are no facilities for cineradiography, (high-speed) x-ray filming, at Holy Cross, but such facilities are available at several institutions close to Worcester, including Harvard University and Brown Universty.

Cineradiographic research is currently undergoing exciting new advances with the development of XROMM, a technique that allows the collection of real-time in vivo 3D x-ray filming of animal behavior. Scientists at Brown University have been instrumental in the development of this new technique. The Claessens lab keeps a close eye on the developments in this field, and is a participant in the XROMM Research Coordination Network, which connects an international community of scientists interested in further developing this novel and exciting methodology.

From earlier research projects at Harvard, our laboratory possesses a library of digital video, 16 mm film, and large radiographic still images of breathing kinematics in the American alligator and guinea fowl. Some of these cineradiographic films can be viewed here.

A small male alligator on a treadmill in front of the cineradiograph at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology Laboratories

Links to pages on our 3-D scanning facility, cineradiographic research, and fieldwork, are located at the bottom of this page (and in the navigation bar).