CT scan tracks snake digestion

It's an older story, but worth reading: An amazing CT scan tracks the progress of a python's digestion and leaves me saying "COOL!" I know the beginning and the ending of the process first hand, but the really fun part is the middle, complete with pictures! From the DailyMail:

Scientists were able to carry out a computer tomography or CT scan and used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the 5kg snake. The images revealed the gradual disappearance of the rat's body. At the same time, the snake's intestine expanded, its gall bladder shrank and its heart increased in volume by 25 per cent. The researchers, Henrik Lauridsen and Kasper Hansen, both from Aarhus University in Denmark, explained that the increase in the size of the snake's heart was probably associated with the energy it needed to digest its meal. 'It's a sit and wait predator,' explained Mr Lauridsen. 'It fasts for months and then eats a really large meal.

The folks over at Science Giest had the same reaction I did. Geeks of a feather? After the bump, the BBC video of the CT scan. Further geeking abounds!