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So if the fingers of the left hand wiggle,
right brain lights up.
But if it's the fingers of the right hand,
left brain activity.
And if we bring out the duster,
[Laughter]
a different area is active.
[Laughter]
Everyone loves the duster!
The clarity of the images we are seeing
is down to us using one of the strongest
MRI machines in the world.
It has a 7 Tesla magnet inside it.
That is strong enough to pick up a double-decker bus.
But we use it to find out how the brain works.
Thanks to the strong magnetic field,
the scanner can detect changes
in the oxygen levels of the blood in a person's brain.
When the fingers of the left hand wiggle,
there is an increased electrical activity
in the areas of the brain that are used to generate the movement.
And to feed the increased demand,
more oxygen is delivered by the blood.
This can be measured because, at an atomic level,
a magnetic field makes protons spin.
The stronger the magnet, the faster the spin.
Crucially though, the protons in oxygenated blood
spin more slowly than those in non-oxygenated blood.
And we can detect these differences with our MRI scanner.
When the fingers of the other hand wiggle,
oxygenated blood flows to the new areas of increased electrical activity.
And, by deduction, we know these must be the areas being used
to produce the new movement.
Our experiments show us how our brains respond when we talk,
experience pain
watch a film
or listen to music.
They allow us to see how our brain changes
when we learn new things, or recover from damage,
after say a stroke or an accident.
Overall, they enhance our understanding of what, I'm sure you'll all agree,
is a very important organ.
One that we all need to make sure we look after.
[Laughter]
Ah, that duster again.
Can a magnet literally pick up a bus?
Can MRI scanners really read my mind?
What is brain activity anyway?
The latest research to answer all these questions and more
is at www.oxfordsparks.net/mri