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Science Technology

Scientists Took an MRI Scan of an Atom (nytimes.com) 49

Posted by msmash from the never-before dept.
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.
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Scientists Took an MRI Scan of an Atom More

Scientists Took an MRI Scan of an Atom

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  • ...they used their Heisenberg compensators.

  • This could provide imaging of atoms of types which were not easily manipulated by a scanning tunneling microscope.

    • Here is a picture of it (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      [ . ]

      {image of a titanium atom}

    • 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

      • 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.

  • ...when Scott Lang photobombs.

  • They're conspiring to emit beta particles and give you cancer. We need to remove them before they can carry out the plot.

  • Hopefully the Atom had insurance (Score:4, Funny)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday July 01, 2019 @02:55PM (#58856392)
    otherwise it's going to get charged.

    Thank you, I'll be here all night! Tip the veal and try your waitress.

  • So, did the atom show more or less brain activity than a dead salmon?

  • Real world... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Obfuscant ( 592200 ) on Monday July 01, 2019 @03:08PM (#58856460)
    In the real world, MRI is called NMR -- nuclear magnetic resonance. You can't call it nuclear when the public is involved because nuclear anything is scary.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      MRI is an application of the technology used in NMR spectroscopy, but no one in any field calls an MRI an NMR. In the real world, they call it a MRI. Plus even if they did, it would be NMRI. NMR is a spectroscopy technique, not in imaging technique.

      • 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.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          I guess you don't understand the technology then, because no one calls MRI NMR. The fact that you don't understand the difference between the applications we are talking about here tells me you don't really understand what you are talking about. You probably learned about NMR in some HS or underclass chem class and its relationship to MRIs and that's the sum of your understanding. I took graduate level courses in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, including classes on theory. I've worked with NMR in
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by EvilSS ( 557649 )
              I'm not splitting hairs here. Obfuscant stated: "In the real world, MRI is called NMR ", and doubled down on it when I explained the difference. That's just wrong, plain and simple. As I stated, a MRI is an application of the same principles used in NMR spectroscopy, but it is not ever called "NMR". You say you want an NMR to a chemist, they will ask you for a sample of what you want to run. Say it to a doctor and they will just look at you funny.
              • Comment removed based on user account deletion

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by EvilSS ( 557649 )
                  If you are questioning reality, I can't help you there. Maybe get a fMRI to see if everything is working as it should. As for there being more NMRs "taken" than MRIs, what does that have to do with anything? They are not the same thing. That's why we have different names for them. And technically accurate or not, related technologies or not, we don't call medical imaging NMR.

                  Should we just start calling "CPUs" "transistors"? Should we call "cakes" "flour"? Maybe we should start calling "houses" "lumber
    • Not quite. MRS is the medical equivalent to NMR.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )

      well, that's all wrong. Nice try to seems smart.

  • I like the part where they told the Electron to turn it's head and cough and two Neutrino's came out.

  • ... 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.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • 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.

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