Phosphorous-based MRI makes 3-D images of bones and brains

03/30/2012

Ashley Yeager

On the left is a section of pork rib. On right is the phosphorous-based MRI view of the dense outer surface of the bone. The ring appears because the density of phosphorous at the center of the bone, where the marrow sits, is lower. 

Scientists have designed a way to create detailed images of the internal structure of solids, such as bone and brain tissue, using an MRI technique that maps signals coming from a sample's phosphorous atoms.Read more