Friendly reminder: MRI is really cool

Radiologists already know this all too well: MRI is cool. You use the technology to give physicians a glimpse inside the human body without ever having to cut it open.

But a columnist at NPR wants to spread the word to those outside the healthcare industry, after a recent scan of his shoulder.

University of Rochester astrophysics professor Adam Frank wrote, “During an MRI, all the spinning protons inside the hydrogen atoms inside the water molecules inside your body get flipped this way and that. The outcome of this magnetically controlled proton spin-flipping is a super high-resolution view inside your skin.”

And when he puts it like that, the wow factor of MRI is clear.

Even more awesome? The proof MRI gives of the many ways human scientific knowledge interacts to produce a positive outcome. MRI alone is a mix of quantum physics, electromagnetic theory, engineering, biology, medicine and more.

Frank even included links to videos of MRI in action to convince the (probably few) still skeptical of its “freaky, clanking, buzzing, whirring glory.” Check them out at NPR.