Imaging

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have developed a system that measures a patient’s pain level by analyzing brain activity from a portable neuroimaging device. The system could help doctors diagnose and treat pain in unconscious and noncommunicative patients, which could reduce the risk of chronic pain that can occur after surgery. Pain management is a…

Could a small ringlike structure made of plastic and copper amplify the already powerful imaging capabilities of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine? Xin Zhang, Stephan Anderson, and their team at the Boston University Photonics Center can clearly picture such a feat. With their combined expertise in engineering, materials science, and medical imaging, Zhang and…

A new study by biomedical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas could significantly improve methods for detecting and diagnosing congenital heart disease in infants and small children. The researchers, collaborating with cardiologists at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, tested a new ultrasound technology called vector flow imaging for the first time on pediatric…

There’s an entire world our eyes miss, hidden in the ranges of light wavelengths that human eyes can’t see. But infrared cameras can pick up the secret light emitted as plants photosynthesize, as cool stars burn and batteries get hot. They can see through smoke and fog and plastic. But infrared cameras are much more…

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed an easy-to-use, tunable biosensor tailored for the terahertz range. Images of mouse organs obtained using their new device verify that the sensor is capable of distinguishing between different tissues. The achievement expands possibilities for terahertz applications in biological analysis and future diagnostics. Plasmonics are highly…

Berkeley Lab researchers, in collaboration with scientists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute, have demonstrated that fluctuation X-ray scattering is capable of capturing the behavior of biological systems in unprecedented detail. Although this technique was first proposed more than four decades ago, its implementation was hindered by the lack of sufficiently…

When strolling along the beach, our footprints tell us that the sand under the surface must have moved but not precisely where or how. Similar movements occur in many other natural and man-made substances, such as snow, construction materials, pharmaceutical powders, and even cereals. To examine these largely unknown granular movements, academics from the Sydney…

In a pair of studies, researchers may have found a way to improve the safety of and expand the use of 3D x-ray imaging in a number of applications. Researchers from the Australian National University, together with a team at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France, have found a way to produce 3D…

Investigators at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have used magnetoencephalography (MEG) – a technology that measures brain activity by detecting the weak magnetic fields produced by the brain’s normal electrical currents – to measure levels of the iron-based mineral called magnetite in the human brain. While magnetite is known…

Scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory—have used ultrabright x-rays to image single bacteria with higher spatial resolution than ever before. Their work, published in Scientific Reports, demonstrates an x-ray imaging technique, called x-ray fluorescence microscopy (XRF), as an effective approach to produce…

A single season of high school football may be enough to cause microscopic changes in the structure of the brain, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers used a new type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)…

Touch, or tactile sensing, is fundamentally important for a range of real-life applications, from robotics to surgical medicine to sports science. Tactile sensors are modeled on the biological sense of touch and can help researchers to understand human perception and motion. Researchers from Osaka University have now developed a new approach to pressure distribution measurement…

A miniaturised version of a musical instrument that could be used to improve the quality of medical images has been manufactured by researchers at the University of Strathclyde. The Science and Engineering researchers have created a miniaturised pipe organ, based on the wide range of pipes seen in the full-sized instrument. The device has been…

Serotonin (3A) receptors are common drug targets in the treatment of pain, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, and mood disorders yet little is known about their three-dimensional structure. Details about serotonin receptor structures could provide important clues to designing better drugs with less side effects. Now, a team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine…

The century old mission to understand how the proteins responsible for amyloid-based diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntingdon’s and Parkinson’s work has taken major steps forward in the last 12 months, thanks to a revolution in a powerful microscopy technique used by scientists. High-powered microscopes using electrons instead of light to “see” the actual shape of samples…

Medical imaging, such as X-ray or computerised tomography (CT), may soon be cheaper and safer, thanks to a recent discovery made by chemists from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Professor Liu Xiaogang and his team from the Department of Chemistry under the NUS Faculty of Science had developed novel lead halide perovskite nanocrystals that…

The field of plant science is in the process of being profoundly transformed by new imaging and modelling technologies. These tools are allowing scientists to peer inside the leaf with a clarity and resolution inconceivable a generation ago. In a recent publication, a team of Australian and US scientists demonstrated how three-dimensional (3D) imaging can…

A new PET imaging radiotracer could help researchers understand neurodegenerative disease and the aging brain. The study is featured in the October issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Past studies have shown a reduced density of the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α4β2-nAChR) in the cortex and hippocampus of the brain in aging patients and those…

An international collaboration led by DESY and consisting of over 120 researchers has announced the results of the first scientific experiments at Europe’s new X-ray laser European XFEL. The pioneering work not only demonstrates that the new research facility can speed up experiments by more than an order of magnitude, it also reveals a previously…

A team of researchers from Sweden has successfully imaged the soft tissue of an ancient Egyptian mummy’s hand down to the microscopic level using a new computer tomography (CT) scan. In the past, archaeologists and paleopathologists have used non-destructive imaging techniques like X-rays and CT scans for human and animal mummies to gain a better…