Scientists perform the first-ever 3D color X-ray on a human

New Zealand scientists made the world's first 3D color X-ray on a human, using a technique that promises to improve the field of medical diagnosis, said CERN's European Physics Laboratory, which helped imaging technology. The new device, based on traditional black-and-white radiography, incorporates particle tracking technology developed for CERN's Large Hadron Collider, which in 2012 discovered the elusive Boson particle of Higgs. "This color X-ray imaging technique could produce clearer and more accurate images and help doctors provide more accurate diagnoses to their patients," said a CERN statement.

CERN technology, dubbed Medipix, functions as a camera that detects and counts individual subatomic particles when they collide with pixels while its shutter is open. The small pixels and the precise resolution of the machine's energy allow this new imaging tool to obtain images that no other imaging tool can achieve, said developer Phil Butler of the company. University of Canterbury

According to CERN, the images very clearly show the difference between bone, muscle and cartilage, but also the position and size of cancerous tumors, for example. The technology is marketed by the New Zealand company MARS Bioimaging, linked to the universities of Otago and Canterbury that have contributed to its development.