13 Amazing MRI Graphics You Won't Believe Food Produced!

We here at QUAINT put 13 combinations of various foods into an MRI machine and the results were stunning. Everyday-foods take on a completely new form in the graphics presented here... it's your job to try and guess which foods were responsible. Click here for more information about QUAINT.

1. Easy round: Can you guess the Fruit or Veg?

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(...scroll Down for the answer)

....it was of course strawberries!

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See if you can get this one:

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(....scroll down for answers)

Cherries!

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Did you know? ... When we see the food with the MRI scanner, we don't see it with the "visible light" that our eyes use, but with something we could call "radio light".

Radio light is effectively light before red light in the rainbow. Despite the fact we can't see them, Radio's can! (...hence the name) Radios see the radio light we can't see with our eyes and convert it into sound that we can dance to!

A good image showing more of the different light types, the light spectrum, can be seen here provided by tutornotes.com

What could have produced this?

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(...scroll down)

Brocolli of course!

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Too easy? Try this next one...

Tip: Black indicates less water. Red/Yellow indicates more.

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The MRI machine can be set to detect water or fat, it is from the contrast of less to more that we can build up these amazing graphics!

(....scroll down if you think you have it)

Avocado?!

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Avocado is used to make guacamole, which tastes great on nachos! The large pip in the center (which tastes terrible on nachos!) has very little water content (which the MRI was set to detect) and so shows up in black.

Did you spot the hidden Aubergine as well? If not, it could be due to its lower water content. Take another look!

1. QUIZ! Before the foods look further from the ordinary, test your knowledge on the MRI that detects them.

   What does MRI even stand for?

    Magnetic Related Imaging

   Magnetic Related Imaging

    Magnetic Resonance Imaging

   Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Mysteriously Round Icebox

   Mysteriously Round Icebox

    Mid-August Resort of the Illuminati

   Mid-August Resort of the Illuminati

   Correct! 

   Wrong! 

   Magnetic Resonance Imaging

   This complicated title comes from the fact that large magnets are used to probe sub-atomic particles called protons (hence "Magnetic"). "Resonance" relates to something a little more complex to do with the sub-atomic particles vibrating. No one to this day understands where the "Imaging" bit comes from, although many scientists (quite a lot of them coming to think of it) speculate that its due to the imaging- the bit which gets us the pictures *Citation needed.

1. Another:

   Which of the following are not used in an MRI machine (you might be surprised!)

    Radio waves/ "Radio light"

   Radio waves/ "Radio light"

    A liquid at -269.1 degrees celsius

   A liquid at -269.1 degrees celsius

    Huge 'superconducting' magnets?

   Huge 'superconducting' magnets?

    Lasers

   Lasers

    Trick question?

   Trick question?

   Correct! 

   Wrong! 

   Trick question!

   All of the above are in an MRI machine, you may not be surprised by the huge magnets and "radio light"/radio-waves (since they have been dotted throughout the Buzzfeed so far). You might be surprised however to know that both the Lasers AND the liquid at -269.1 degrees celsius help the machine to work. The liquid is used to cool the magnets to super-cool temperatures which is crucial! The lasers are to do with positioning within part of the equipment, but don't worry- if you have ever had one, or are going to, you won't experience or even see either of these parts!

2. Medium round: Watch out for combinations of more than one food!

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These are going to get a little trickier!

(....scroll down for answers)

Did you guess mushrooms!?

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Perhaps the next one will catch you out...

???

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(...scroll down)

Banana and Courgette! Doubler!

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Did you know... Sub-atomic particles are made up of the nucleus (consisting of protons and neutrons) and an electron orbitting around it?

MRIs use protons which have a high density in water to detect the objects inside them!

Protons and neutrons are so small that if the nucleus which contains them was a grape, the electrons would exist a mile away from that grape (There are genuinely no more references to grapes in this Buzzfeed).

What weird structure could this be?

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(....scroll down to find out)

Pineapple!

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If you found this one too easy, the next won't be!

???

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The middle of this one almost looks like an atom with a cloud of electrons around the outside (This would actually make sense- we are told that electrons orbit around the nucleus but they are so hard to pin down that we usually represent them with a cloud!)

(....scroll down to see which - spoiler- fruit it is)

Melon Surprise!

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Little bigger than a nucleus- did you guess that such a bizarre representation was actually a melon? Yet these representations are very real, very understandable (when you know how to analyse it right), and very useful!

1. Intermission Part 2! How much have you learnt about MRIs?...

   MRI looks inside us and other objects how?

    Nobody knows

   Nobody knows

    Sound speakers

   Sound speakers

    x-rays

   x-rays

    Magnets and Radio-waves (a form of light)

   Magnets and Radio-waves (a form of light)

   Correct! 

   Wrong! 

   Magnets and Radio-waves!

1. One more:

   MRI uses which part of sub-atomic particles:

    Electrons  Which orbit the nucleus (large middle chunk of the atom)

   Electrons

   Which orbit the nucleus (large middle chunk of the atom)

    Protons  A sub-atomic particle found in the nucleus of the atom

   Protons

   A sub-atomic particle found in the nucleus of the atom

   Correct! 

   Wrong! 

   Protons!

   For a re-cap, read the sections underneath the banana and courgette above.

Expert round: Try not to stumble on these weirder graphics, with larger combinations and more exotic fruit.

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You'll have to be quick and precise to guess these 4!

(...scroll down for answers)

Rasberries, Baby Sweetcorn, Peach and Chilli!

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Did you get them? Try the next one.

???

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Yellow indicates the top right one is full of water, you can even see its pips! But what are these three foods?

Onion, Lemon!... Passion fruit?

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The foods are getting more exotic. The last two graphics will be the final test in spectroscopy- be prepared for a challenge.

Hint: It's not a fruit or veg

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You can see the flash of another food at the bottom as well...

Pasta Pot avec Egg

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Quite tricky to guess I imagine, the slices the MRI machine takes are 2D pictures it then compiles more or less into a 3D image. This is why seeing the sequence of images in a GIF is a cool result, as you can see the object being built downwards.

Did you know... As we excite protons, give them a little energy boost so they jig about more, they will slowly burn off this energy as they calm down. We know they do this because they release those much needed radio-light, those radio-waves, as it happens. Now you understand how the use of protons and radio-waves is more or less hand-in-hand.

Impossible.

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If you can guess this one, you are a master of spectroscopy.

Exotic fruit surprise: PHYSALLIS!

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Whilst they look like cherry tomatoes (and I told you there would be no more mention of grapes), they are PHYSALLIS!

Last did you know... The science of shaping radiowaves into complex patterns, to interact with physical systems, to learn more about them and make them do cool stuff for us (such as MRI) is called quantum control.

The applications of QC (quantum control) don't just stop at MRI and lots of research is taking place at QUAINT. There is even talk of quantum computers which will revolutionize how computers process information. To find out more about about their research click here

I hope you have enjoyed guessing the Foods! Share if you enjoyed and visit here if you want more games related to quantum contol.