The magnetic resonance imagers used in medicine fill rooms with their large-field magnets. But developments in ultra-low-field devices may give the doctor of tomorrow a more portable version. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems are used extensively in the radiology departments of most hospitals. Recent years have seen impressive advances in the quality of the images that MRI produces, in part owing to the use of ever stronger magnetic fields. However, the large, usually cylindrical magnets into which patients are placed are bulky and claustrophobic, leaving little room for patients, let alone much possibility for doctors and researchers to attend to them while in the machine (Fig. 1, overleaf). These magnets are also expensive and heavy, making MRI systems immobile and demanding to install. But all this could change. Writing in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance, Vadim Zotev and colleagues report success in imaging a human brain using a different type of MRI system: lightweight, open, mobile and significantly cheaper.
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