Ryan Carney drew his first Archaeopteryx at 7 years old. He liked art, science, and most importantly, dinosaurs.
In fact, he won a school drawing contest when he was 8 for a picture depicting himself as a paleontologist on a fossil excavation.
“I was always obsessed with dinosaurs since I was a little kid,” said Carney, now an associate professor of integrative biology at the University of South Florida. “I would draw them, I would sculpt them, do little clay-mation, stop-motion animations with the family video camera.”
The Archaeopteryx was a small, feathered dinosaur believed to be an ancestor of modern birds. Today, visitors to the National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington, D.C., can see the most scientifically accurate reconstruction of the animal ever made — a project designed by Carney.
The Archaeopteryx is one of the world's most famous dinosaurs because it captures the evolutionary transition between non-avian dinosaurs and birds, dating back 150 million years. Historically referred to as the "missing link," it possessed dinosaur traits such as teeth, fingers with claws and a long bony tail, while also displaying feathers identical to those of modern birds.
When Carney visited the University of California, Berkeley, for the first time while in high school, he entered the Integrative Biology building. When he looked up, he saw a familiar face.
“The very first thing that I saw on the wall was the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx, staring back at me, greeting me, kind of beckoning me as my spirit animal," Carney said.
Carney went on to attend UC Berkeley the following year, where he double majored in integrative biology and studio art. In the latter, he learned a 3D modeling animation program called Maya, which became the foundation for his reconstruction skills.
After his graduation, Carney sat down with an advisor to discuss next steps. He asked Carney what he wanted to do with his life.
“I thought about it for a second, and I said, 'You know, I don't know how I'm going to do it, but one day I'm going to X-ray scan an Archaeopteryx, reconstruct its entire skeleton in 3D, and figure out if it could fly.' And he kind of chuckled and rolled his eyes because it's such a pipe dream," he recalled.
ALSO READ: Before you swat that mosquito this summer, take a picture of it
That same year, research on a newly found specimen of the fossil was published in Science.
Known as the Thermopolis specimen, it was the only Archaeopteryx fossil in North America at the time.
Carney was quick to call the museum where it was being held and submit a proposal to scan and reconstruct it. But he had to find a way to map it and locate the right technology to print it.
He was able to secure funding through the National Science Foundation with help from a supportive Yale University professor. However, Carney was still faced with the issue of finding a specialized facility with the technology and space to accommodate his plans.
Luckily, he happened to be speaking at an event at the same time as an FBI agent. After Carney explained his requirements for a facility to support his project, the agent pointed him to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — the same California facility used to scan space shuttle wings and nuclear warheads.
“It took three tries, you know, three different scanners, and then they built the rotational laminography from scratch,” he said.
The scanning component was just the beginning. Next, Carney needed to start the reconstruction. He took the data scanned from the specimen and simulated movement and flight of the Archaeopteryx — addressing one of the biggest questions swirling around how the animal may have lived.
Through his animation software, he was able to confirm that it was possible for them to take powered flight. And with his research and tests, Carney also managed to determine the color of its feathers — another big historical unknown.
Once Carney created an augmented reality version of the reconstruction using his animation software, he got to printing.
ALSO READ: Small fossil has big implications for bird brain evolution
Through several different prototypes — each increasing in accuracy — he was ultimately invited to display his work at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration. He flew to Washington with only nine days to assemble his reconstruction for the showcase.
“Now it's my Archaeopteryx that's greeting visitors at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration, just as it was greeting me back at Berkeley, and so it's really a dream project and really a dream job that I have," he said.
Now, Carney teaches his Digital Dinosaurs course at USF, where he hopes to use his work to propel students into becoming future paleontologists.
And he wants to find a way to make his discovery accessible for everyone.
“I want to construct a 3D printable kit so that students around the world can download it and 3D print it out in their classroom, and again have that 3D Archaeopteryx inspire the next generation of STEM students, just like the fossil Archaeopteryx inspired me when I was a kid," he said.
