Science! By Ryan Whitwam May. 16, 2014 2:02 pm
Advanced medical imaging technologies have vastly expanded the treatment of serious disease, and contributed to the extension of the average human life. That’s all well and good, but it can also be good for looking inside of things for completely non-medical reasons. An MRI in particular can produce some awesome images which are ready-made for assembly into GIFs, and that’s just what we’re going to take a look at today. In the gallery above you’ll find 15 super-neat images of fruits and vegetables being scanned by an MRI. Don’t judge just yet — it’s pretty fascinating.
To really get the full effect of these neat GIFs, it might help to know a bit about how an MRI works. Most people know MRI as an acronym for magnetic resonance imaging, but it’s more accurate to call it nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. We’re actually talking about manipulating and imaging atomic nuclei. In the case of biological matter, we’re usually talking about hydrogen nuclei.
MRIs are a popular imaging technology because they do not use ionizing radiation. The person (or food item in this case) is only exposed to a high-power magnetic field. That’s why no metal is allowed near an MRI — it’s a giant superconducting magnet. The magnetic field of the scanner causes the hydrogen nuclei in the water molecules of the target to align in the same direction like trillions of tiny magnets. This is called a magnetic moment.
Short bursts of radio waves are directed at the area of interest to disrupt the orientation of the nuclei. As they return to center, they release radio waves that can be detected and used to build an exact map of hydrogen nuclei (protons) in the object you’re scanning. This process is so precise, it can be used to generate a full 3D image that you can virtually zoom through. That’s what you’re seeing in the GIFs above — a virtual trip through the inner structure of plants.
So, the question that is no doubt weighing heavily on your mind at this point — why are there so many MRI scans of fruits and vegetables available on the internet? Well, the proprietor of a website called Inside Insides goes by the name Andy Ellison. He operates an MRI at Boston University Medical School that is used exclusively for research. One day, while in search of a way to adjust the machine’s parameters, he tossed an orange in the scanner. And wouldn’t you know it — oranges look really neat from the inside out.
After that, he started testing his Philips 3 Tesla MRI with all sorts of plant life, most of which is edible. We dug through the archives to find some of the coolest animations, but it’s worth checking out for yourself too. An MRI is a pretty expensive toy that most of us will never get the chance to play with, but at least you get to see the final product. If you’re particularly taken by any of the MRI foods in the gallery up top, Ellison sells prints of them.
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Advanced medical imaging technologies have vastly expanded the treatment of serious disease, and contributed to the extension of the average human life. That’s all well and good, but it can also be good for looking inside of things for completely non-medical reasons. An MRI in particular can produce some awesome images which are ready-made for assembly into GIFs, and that’s just what we’re going to take a look at today. In the gallery above you’ll find 15 super-neat images of fruits and vegetables being scanned by an MRI. Don’t judge just yet — it’s pretty fascinating.To really get the full effect of these neat GIFs, it might help to know a bit about how an MRI works. Most people know MRI as an acronym for magnetic resonance imaging, but it’s more accurate to call it nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. We’re actually talking about manipulating and imaging atomic nuclei. In the case of biological matter, we’re usually talking about hydrogen nuclei.
MRIs are a popular imaging technology because they do not use ionizing radiation. The person (or food item in this case) is only exposed to a high-power magnetic field. That’s why no metal is allowed near an MRI — it’s a giant superconducting magnet. The magnetic field of the scanner causes the hydrogen nuclei in the water molecules of the target to align in the same direction like trillions of tiny magnets. This is called a magnetic moment.
Short bursts of radio waves are directed at the area of interest to disrupt the orientation of the nuclei. As they return to center, they release radio waves that can be detected and used to build an exact map of hydrogen nuclei (protons) in the object you’re scanning. This process is so precise, it can be used to generate a full 3D image that you can virtually zoom through. That’s what you’re seeing in the GIFs above — a virtual trip through the inner structure of plants.
So, the question that is no doubt weighing heavily on your mind at this point — why are there so many MRI scans of fruits and vegetables available on the internet? Well, the proprietor of a website called Inside Insides goes by the name Andy Ellison. He operates an MRI at Boston University Medical School that is used exclusively for research. One day, while in search of a way to adjust the machine’s parameters, he tossed an orange in the scanner. And wouldn’t you know it — oranges look really neat from the inside out.
After that, he started testing his Philips 3 Tesla MRI with all sorts of plant life, most of which is edible. We dug through the archives to find some of the coolest animations, but it’s worth checking out for yourself too. An MRI is a pretty expensive toy that most of us will never get the chance to play with, but at least you get to see the final product. If you’re particularly taken by any of the MRI foods in the gallery up top, Ellison sells prints of them.
- [h=4]Broccoli[/h]It looks like fireworks.
- [h=4]Sunflower[/h]Only partially edible.
- [h=4]Garlic[/h]It looks alive.
- [h=4]Banana[/h]Bet you can’t guess what this is.
- [h=4]Onion[/h]Check out those layers.
- [h=4]Banana Flower[/h]It matures into a whole bunch of bananas.
- [h=4]Passion Fruit[/h]Some complicated insides.
- [h=4]Bell pepper[/h]The long way.
- [h=4]Pineapple[/h]Looks kind of like a sea sponge.
- [h=4]Pomegranate[/h]Those seeds are crazy.
- [h=4]Tomato[/h]Looks juicy.
- [h=4]Strawberries[/h]I assure you, these are not actually bacteria.
- [h=4]Pumpkin[/h]The stump at the end is neat.
- [h=4]Three lilies[/h]Kind of pretty.
- [h=4]Corn[/h]Probably one of the most recognizable.
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