ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE/CNN) - New technology is giving us a first ever look inside a dinosaur skull discovered in New Mexico.
The skull of the so-called 'Bisti Beast,' the first of its kind ever to be discovered, was found near Farmington in the 1990s. Now with high-tech imaging, we're able to see how it evolved over millions of years.
Researchers using the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s neuron imaging are revealing what's inside the fossil.
Scientist Sven Vogel said the machine can see further inside the fossil than a standard X-ray machine.
It's able to do that without having to break the delicate fossil open.
The goal of all this is to find out the dinosaur's role 75 million years ago by being able to look at the internal anatomy of the skull never before seen.
Local scientists specifically want to learn what was important about the animal and why its skull became so large.
"Having this new information is going to enable scientists for generations and generations and generations to look at this skull very easily through online access. We don't have to ship a very fragile, holotype skull," Kat Schroader from the University of New Mexico said.
The discoveries about this fossil and this whole process of examining it are drawing attention from around the globe.
This is the highest resolution scan of a Tyrannosaur skull ever done.
Scientists hope to further learn how the Bisti Beast transformed from a smaller, meat-eating dinosaur into its much bigger, bone-crushing relative, the T-rex.
The neuron scan technology is only available in about 10 locations around the world.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory will present the scan findings at an international meeting for paleontologists.
Scientists said it will likely take years for them to find out everything they want to learn about this fossil.
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