Some of Our Sources
- Engadget
- Mashable
- Web Designer Wall
- Joshua Blankenship
- Creative Curio
- Fuel Your Creativity
- Fudge Graphics
- Web Design Ledger
- CSS Globe
- Spyre Studios
Help Webnuz
Referal links:
July 1, 2019 06:01 pm
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/bMu83Z9N-xM/scientists-took-an-mri-scan-of-an-atom
Scientists Took an MRI Scan of an Atom
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.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/bMu83Z9N-xM/scientists-took-an-mri-scan-of-an-atom
Share this article:
Tweet
View Full Article
Slashdot
Slashdot was originally created in September of 1997 by Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda. Today it is owned by Geeknet, Inc..More About this Source Visit Slashdot