The science of MRI scanning

Laurence O'Dwyer looks at the science behind MRI scanners and how Irish research groups are using these machines during their investigations. One reason for the mystery of the human body is that its interior is largely out of bounds. What we cannot see attracts our curiosity and ingenuity in equal measure. A surreal example of this is ‘The Flayed Angel’ from a medical treatise of 1746, which reveals the anatomy of a dissected angel. At the end of the 19th century, the first x-ray was taken and the skeletal image of Mrs Wilhelm Roentgen’s hand, with a ring on the…