{"id":5749,"date":"2021-03-03T09:11:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T07:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/?p=5749"},"modified":"2022-12-07T15:04:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T13:04:17","slug":"voir-linfiniment-petit-watching-the-infinitely-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/uncategorized\/voir-linfiniment-petit-watching-the-infinitely-small\/","title":{"rendered":"Voir l\u2019infiniment petit\/ Watching the infinitely small"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Fossil skull in Diamond\u2019s beamline I12
\u00a9 Copyright of Diamond Light Source Ltd
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 <\/p>\n\n\n

Premi\u00e8res observations histologiques du cr\u00e2ne de \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u00e9couvert dans la grotte de Silberberg (Sterkfontein), en Afrique du Sud, \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb est le squelette le plus complet d\u2019Australopithecus<\/em> jamais mis au jour. Vingt ann\u00e9es ont \u00e9t\u00e9 n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 l’\u00e9quipe du professeur Ron Clarke (universit\u00e9 du Witwatersrand) pour le d\u00e9gager de sa gangue rocheuse 3,67 millions d\u2019ann\u00e9es apr\u00e8s sa mort. Aujourd\u2019hui, une \u00e9quipe de chercheurs et de chercheuses sud-africains, fran\u00e7ais et britanniques publie, dans <\/a>eLife<\/a><\/em>, leurs derniers travaux sur le cr\u00e2ne de \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019\u00e9quipe internationale a transport\u00e9 ce pr\u00e9cieux vestige depuis l\u2019Afrique jusqu\u2019au Royaume-Uni en 2019 afin d\u2019en scanner l\u2019int\u00e9rieur <\/strong>au synchrotron du Diamond Light Source<\/em>, \u00e0 Didcot. La technologie synchrotron permet de scanner des objets en tr\u00e8s haute r\u00e9solution (de l\u2019ordre du micron). Ce \u00ab microscope g\u00e9ant \u00bb fonctionne sur les principes de l\u2019acc\u00e9l\u00e9ration \u00e0 haute \u00e9nergie de particules \u00e9l\u00e9mentaires. Pour la premi\u00e8re fois, des d\u00e9tails de l\u2019anatomie de \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb, invisibles \u00e0 l\u2019\u0153il nu, ont pu \u00eatre mis en \u00e9vidence. En particulier, des micro-vaisseaux de l\u2019os de la mandibule ont pu \u00eatre reconstitu\u00e9s en 3D et donner un aper\u00e7u des processus de remodelage de l\u2019os au cours de la vie de \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb. Les images \u00e0 haute r\u00e9solution ont aussi r\u00e9v\u00e9l\u00e9 des structures microscopiques des tissus dentaires et de l\u2019os du cr\u00e2ne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Ces premiers r\u00e9sultats de \u00ab pal\u00e9ohistologie \u00bb d\u2019un anc\u00eatre vieux de plus de 3 millions d\u2019ann\u00e9es sont particuli\u00e8rement prometteurs pour la suite de l\u2019\u00e9tude de ce sp\u00e9cimen et pour la discipline en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral. Alors que ces structures anatomiques sont habituellement observ\u00e9es sur des coupes histologiques (qui impliquent donc de d\u00e9truire le fossile), le synchrotron permet d\u2019acc\u00e9der \u00e0 des d\u00e9tails \u00ab intimes \u00bb des membres de notre lign\u00e9e sans les endommager. Le degr\u00e9 de pr\u00e9servation des structures internes du cr\u00e2ne <\/strong>de \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb, insoup\u00e7onn\u00e9 jusqu\u2019alors, ouvre des perspectives uniques pour l\u2019\u00e9tude de ce sp\u00e9cimen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am\u00e9lie Beaudet <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecturer in Human Origins<\/em>
D\u00e9partment d\u2019arch\u00e9ologie
Universit\u00e9 de Cambridge
Royaume-Uni<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allocataire de l\u2019IFAS-Recherche en 2021<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n

First histological observations of Little Foot\u2019s skull<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovered in the Silberberg Cave (Sterkfontein), South Africa, \u201cLittle Foot\u201d is the most complete skeleton of Australopithecus<\/em> ever found. It took Professor Ron Clarke\u2019s team (University of the Witwatersrand) twenty years to free it from its rocky gangue, 3.67 million years after its death. Today, a team of South African, French and British researchers is publishing their latest work on the Little Foot\u2019s skull in <\/a>eLife<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international team transported this precious relic from Africa to the UK in 2019 to scan its interior at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in Didcot. Synchrotron technology allows objects to be scanned at very high resolution (micron level). This \u2018giant microscope\u2019 works on the principles of the high-energy acceleration of elementary particles. For the first time, details of Little Foot\u2019s anatomy, previously invisible to the naked eye, have been revealed. In particular, micro-vessels of the mandibular bone were reconstructed in 3D, giving an insight into the bone remodeling processes during Little Foot\u2019s life. The high-resolution images also revealed microscopic structures of dental tissue and skull bone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 These first \u2018paleohistology\u2019 results from an ancestor more than 3-million-year-old are particularly promising for a further study of this specimen and for the discipline in general. While these anatomical structures are usually observed on histological sections (which therefore involve destroying the fossil), the synchrotron allows access to \u2018intimate\u2019 details of our lineage members without damaging them. The hitherto unsuspected degree of preservation of the internal structures of Little Foot\u2019s skull opens up unique perspectives for the study of this specimen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am\u00e9lie Beaudet <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecturer in Human Origins<\/em>
Department of Archaeology
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IFAS-Research grant recipient in 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Premi\u00e8res observations histologiques du cr\u00e2ne de \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb D\u00e9couvert dans la grotte de Silberberg (Sterkfontein), en Afrique du Sud, \u00ab Little Foot \u00bb est le squelette le plus complet d\u2019Australopithecus jamais mis au jour. Vingt ann\u00e9es ont \u00e9t\u00e9 n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 l’\u00e9quipe du professeur Ron Clarke (universit\u00e9 du Witwatersrand) pour le d\u00e9gager de sa gangue rocheuse 3,67 millions d\u2019ann\u00e9es apr\u00e8s sa mort. Aujourd\u2019hui, une \u00e9quipe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5749"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5757,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5749\/revisions\/5757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}