Departmental news

The famous Oxford Dodo died after being shot, according to breakthrough research by Oxford University Museum of Natural History and WMG at the University of Warwick.

Using revolutionary forensic scanning technology and world-class expertise, researchers have discovered surprising evidence that the Oxford Dodo was shot in the neck and back of the head with a shotgun.

The significant and unexpected findings, made by Professor Paul Smith, director of the Museum of Natural History, and Professor Mark Williams from WMG at the University of Warwick, only became apparent when mysterious particles were found in the specimen during scans carried out to help analyse its anatomy.

Subsequent analysis of the material and size of the particles revealed that they are lead shot pellets, typically used to hunt wildfowl during the 17th century.

The findings cast doubt on the popular theory that the Oxford Dodo is the remains of a bird kept alive in a townhouse in 17th-century London.

Cutting-edge technology has brought Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding cake back to life in time for hers and Prince Philip’s 70th anniversary, thanks to research by WMG at the University of Warwick.

Professor Mark Williams at WMG, alongside the British Sugarcraft Guild (BSG), employed 3D scanning technology to recreate a full-sized replica of a cake presented to the royal couple on their wedding day in November 1947 – which was almost totally destroyed by vandals in 2015.

The technology was able to accurately scan the cake to within 0.1mm and reproduce a high-resolution 3D model that was then be used to digitally repair the cake.

Analysing the surviving parts of the cake – an intricate 6ft ensemble, consisting of 6 tiers – Professor Williams was able to discover exactly how it was formed, and to determine precisely how to restore its original grandeur.

There were elaborate pictorial panels on each tier of the cake, the moulds of which had been lost through the decades. However, WMG’s engineering technology recreated these images from the wedding cake, and produced new silicone moulds through 3D scanning.

Details of the oldest known marine navigation tool, discovered in a shipwreck, have been revealed thanks to state-of-the-art scanning technology at WMG, University of Warwick.

Professor Mark Williams was tasked with scanning the artefact – an astrolabe from the late fifteenth century, used by mariners to measure the altitude of the sun during voyages – which was excavated in 2014 by Blue Water Recovery.

When the team found the object, no markings were visible – they believed it was an astrolabe, but they could not see any navigational markings on it.

They then approached Professor Williams, who conducts pioneering scanning analyses in his laboratory at WMG, to reveal the artefact’s invisible details.

The scans showed etches around the edge of the object, each separated by five degrees – proving that it is an astrolabe.

These markings would have allowed mariners to measure the height of the sun above the horizon at noon to determine their location so they could find their way on the high seas.

Pioneering technology has shed fresh light on the world’s first scientifically-described dinosaur fossil – over 200 years after it was first discovered - thanks to research by WMG at the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford’s Museum of Natural History.

Professor Mark Williams at WMG has revealed five previously unseen teeth in the jawbone of the Megalosaurus – and that historical repairs on the fossil may have been less extensive than previously thought.

Cutting-edge technology has brought Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding cake back to life – thanks to research by WMG at the University of Warwick.

Professor Mark Williams at WMG, alongside the British Sugarcraft Guild (BSG), employed 3D scanning technology to recreate a full-sized replica of a wedding cake presented to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip – which was almost totally destroyed by vandals in 2015.

The technology was able to accurately scan the cake to within 0.1mm and reproduce a high-resolution 3D model that was then be used to digitally repair the cake.

Professor Mark Williams has been awarded an IET Achievement Medal for his outstanding work in Forensic Engineering.

The IET Achievement Medals are awarded to individuals, such as Professor Williams, who have made major and distinguished contributions in the various sectors of science, engineering and technology.

Dr Ian Nussey OBE, from the IET Awards and Prizes Committee explains: “Professor Mark Williams criminal forensics engineering is helping to shape the criminal justice system. It has established the truth where prosecution has not been pursued, provided pivotal evidence at a number of high profile murder trials and helped victims' families and vulnerable people.

Sophisticated CT scanning technology normally used by researchers from WMG at the University of Warwick to assist high tech manufacturing, has helped uncover the existence of a rare silver coin called an ‘Indio’ discovered by archaeologists investigating a shipwreck off the coast of Oman.

Over 2,800 artefacts were found in the wreck, including a bronze bell with an inscription dating back to 1498, gold coins from the era and an important bronze disc embossed with the "esfera armilar" — a personal emblem of Dom Manuel I, the then-king of Portugal.

The WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Coventry has received a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) on loan from WMG, at the University of Warwick. The machine will assist students with verification and measurement when producing parts, ensuring they are trained in the most efficient industrial processes and with the same equipment used by world leading manufacturing companies.

Engineers and imagers from the University of Warwick’s WMG and anatomists from Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick are helping art historians from the University of Cambridge have been working together to try to understand how the two mysterious Renaissance bronzes were made and why they look the way they do by making accurate replicas of the originals. The latest technology-neutron imaging, XRF analysis, 360 degree laser scanning, 3D printing, and real-time x-ray videography - has been involved in this Renaissance ‘whodunnit’.

Unique collaboration sees cutting edge research used to prove murder cases

Futuristic 3D scanning technology at WMG, University of Warwick is helping West Midlands Police to convict killers thanks to a pioneering new partnership which is providing juries with microscopic evidence previously beyond the reach of forensic testing.

Last month, Lorenzo Simon was sentenced to life in prison for the barbaric murder of a housemate whose body he dissected and stuffed inside suitcases he later hurled into Birmingham Canal, with help from his girlfriend Michelle Bird.

Crucially detectives recovered part of the victim’s humerus from an oil drum in the couple’s garden – used as a furnace to destroy evidence – which experts from WMG, at the University of Warwick, proved was a seamless fit with a limb found in the case.