Katie Wolcott, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biology at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, has developed a repository of 3D images of cacao and similar flowers. For many years, the common consensus was that cacao flowers—the source of chocolate—were pollinated exclusively by small flies called midges. However, by analyzing the flowers’ shape via CT scanning, Wolcott discovered that midges are likely not the only pollinators. The open-source repository of CT scans of flowers she created during her time at the University will allow researchers to explore important questions about biodiversity.
