Imaging of Neuro disease Using high-field MR And Contrastophores (INUMAC), a scanner being built by the University of Freiburg, is being touted as the most powerful MRI scanner in the world which would reportedly enable scientists to check the human body with a far greater degree of detail than ever before.
The scanner is apparently endowed with a superconducting electromagnet that can produce a field of 11.75 Teslas and provide unprecedented images of the human brain. The standard MRIs produce 1.5 or 3 Teslas.
Pierre Vedrine, Director of the project at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, in Paris informs that INUMAC can image an area of about 0.1 mm, or 1000 neurons, and see changes occurring as fast as one-tenth of a second. Its other unique feature comprises a capability to generate electromagnetic fields strong enough to lift 60 metric tonnes.
The MRI scanner has been under development since 2006 and is nearing completion. It will reportedly cost about $ 270 million.
EH News Bureau