CT scanning works by passing X-rays through an object from many different angles and using the differences in X-ray absorption to reconstruct a three-dimensional model of the object’s internal structure.

Dense materials — like cortical bone, or the compact bone of a weapon tip — absorb X-rays more strongly than less dense materials like the trabecular interior of a rib.

The resulting CT images show these differences in density as differences in brightness, creating a detailed map of the internal architecture of the specimen.

For the Manis rib, high-resolution CT scanning could do several things that ordinary visual inspection or conventional X-rays could not.

It could reveal the three-dimensional shape of the embedded fragments without removing them.