Scientists Took an MRI Scan of an Atom (nytimes.com) 49
The hospital technology, typically used to identify human ailments, captured perhaps the world's smallest magnetic resonance image. weiserfireman shares a report: Different microscopy techniques allow scientists to see the nucleotide-by-nucleotide genetic sequences in cells down to the resolution of a couple atoms as seen in an atomic force microscopy image. But scientists at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. and the Institute for Basic Sciences in Seoul, have taken imaging a step further, developing a new magnetic resonance imaging technique that provides unprecedented detail, right down to the individual atoms of a sample [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. The technique relies on the same basic physics behind the M.R.I. scans that are done in hospitals. When doctors want to detect tumors, measure brain function or visualize the structure of joints, they employ huge M.R.I. machines, which apply a magnetic field across the human body. This temporarily disrupts the protons spinning in the nucleus of every atom in every cell. A subsequent, brief pulse of radio-frequency energy causes the protons to spin perpendicular to the pulse. Afterward, the protons return to their normal state, releasing energy that can be measured by sensors and made into an image.
But to gather enough diagnostic data, traditional hospital M.R.I.s must scan billions and billions of protons in a person's body, said Christopher Lutz, a physicist at IBM. So he and his colleagues decided to pack the power of an M.R.I. machine into the tip of another specialized instrument known as a scanning tunneling microscope to see if they could image individual atoms. The tip of a scanning tunneling microscope is just a few atoms wide. And it moves along the surface of a sample, it picks up details about the size and conformation of molecules. The researchers attached magnetized iron atoms to the tip, effectively combining scanning-tunneling microscope and M.R.I. technologies.
But to gather enough diagnostic data, traditional hospital M.R.I.s must scan billions and billions of protons in a person's body, said Christopher Lutz, a physicist at IBM. So he and his colleagues decided to pack the power of an M.R.I. machine into the tip of another specialized instrument known as a scanning tunneling microscope to see if they could image individual atoms. The tip of a scanning tunneling microscope is just a few atoms wide. And it moves along the surface of a sample, it picks up details about the size and conformation of molecules. The researchers attached magnetized iron atoms to the tip, effectively combining scanning-tunneling microscope and M.R.I. technologies.
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Re: oh wow amazing (Score:2, Interesting)
CT scans resolve soft tissue very poorly. They are most useful for bone and connective tissue. MRI scans are very sensitive to water content (really the density of H atoms) and thus the scan of choice for 3D organ imaging. They also have the benefit of not giving a large dose of X-RAYS. Ultrasound is good for finding membranes and contrasts tissues with different echoicity, which is the sound analog of impedence. They are very sensitive, especially to free fluid, but do not produce good 3D imaging. In Doppl
I just hope... (Score:2)
Re:I just hope... (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, we are starting to do things that Heisenberg said would be impossible.
I am pretty sure we will effectively create something like that by manipulating some other property.
Literally, I am surrounded by things that people called 'impossible' when was a child.
Very awesome (Score:2)
This could provide imaging of atoms of types which were not easily manipulated by a scanning tunneling microscope.
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Here is a picture of it (Score:2, Informative)
[ . ]
{image of a titanium atom}
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This is a scanning tunnelling microscope. However they are measuring magnetic force instead of the usual tunnelling current. From the scant information in the NYT article, it seems they are measuring the tunnelling current generated by microwave photons interacting magnetically with valence shell electrons. Someone with more of a clue, please clarify.
Atomic force microscopy is capable of resolving finer atomic details than this, seemingly right down to individual electron orbitals, so I would like to see a
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and looking at the (fucking paywalled) Nature abstract, it's clear that the newspaper reports are pathetically inadequate. The central idea... measuring spin interactions... wasn't mentioned once.
Whatever, let me know... (Score:2)
...when Scott Lang photobombs.
See that group of potassium atoms? (Score:2)
Hopefully the Atom had insurance (Score:4, Funny)
Thank you, I'll be here all night! Tip the veal and try your waitress.
Important question unanswered (Score:2)
So, did the atom show more or less brain activity than a dead salmon?
Real world... (Score:4, Insightful)
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MRI is an application of the technology used in NMR spectroscopy, but no one in any field calls an MRI an NMR.
Uhhh, yeah, they do. People who understand what the technology is.
In the real world, they call it a MRI.
No, in the real world they call it NMR. In the "can't scare the patient" world, it's MRI.
NMR is a spectroscopy technique, not in imaging technique.
The fact that the detectors for NMR are not imaging detectors doesn't mean they don't detect the same thing.
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Should we just start calling "CPUs" "transistors"? Should we call "cakes" "flour"? Maybe we should start calling "houses" "lumber
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well, that's all wrong. Nice try to seems smart.
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"seems smart"
sigh. Just perfect.
Spin Doctor (Score:2)
Did they also had to wait a couple of weeks? (Score:2)
I did.
Gotta love the photo ... (Score:2)
... of the machine [nyt.com].
It reminds me of the state of the art of quantum computing that some people think is actually up and running.
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Bad Title (Score:1)
I'm always glad to see someone improve resolution of measurement equipment. And higher resolution images of atoms are cool, but..
Weren't NMR machines invented for just this sort of chemical analysis? It was later determined it could be useful to doctors. And then they renamed it MRI to get the word nuclear out of it.
headline: Cook uses ice scoop as a serving spoon.