Blender has been embraced by the science community due to it’s open nature and capability.
http://arc-team-open-research.blogspot.ca/ (search for ‘Taung’) demonstrates the reconstruction of an ancient fossil from high resolution CT scans. Other similar projects allow students or other interested folks to download these scans and work on them in their spare time. Some courses give credit for participating in these projects. One constant complaint I see in the feedback is that Blender can be a bear to learn. I’ll be posting a link to this site to hopefully make it easier for people to take part.