Hope everyone is aware that each day MRI especially functional MRI is giving new insights into the brain a region hetherto thought could not be studied . Why a person is more altruistic , why another person is more narcissistic all is actively studied by brain imaging .
Medical physics has always intrigued me and as it is the science behind all the machines radiologists use be it CT or MRI or Ultrasound its part of the curriculum too for radiologists . But recently i am forced to delve deeper into the molecular basis of MRI because being a teacher i am supposed to learn more than the student just in case an extra wise guy asks further questions beyond the syllabus .
MRI physics is complicated even in the superficial aspects compared to CT physics . But being a mix of interactions dwelving into quantum mechanics and concepts touching on space science (orbital angular momentum etc ) i was in total awe . Many of the formulas ( though we as doctors dont have to solve them ) have similarity to space science formulas , radioactivity formulas and quantum mechanics . Many unrelated things in physics was having similar formulas and basic concepts . This i came to know because the textbooks i was referring was giving examples as well as the similarities . The point is it it was fascinating , complicated but more importantly similar across disciplines . So it once again got the spiritual in me thinking about the grand design both of the human body as well as the atomic level things which is explored by science .
When studying in such a fashion we learn humility , the sense of wonder as well as similarity of things even at atomic level . And with all the artificial divisions by religions its surprising the science of things teaches us the unifying concepts even at the atomic level . Would greater education eradicate or minimise the religious divisions ? Will it teach us greater tolerance ? (if at all anything is to be tolerated ) .
Anyways for me be it music or science that is paradoxically making me more spiritual and humble . And yes it is fascinating too . Let me go back to MRI physics . Those formulas luckily i can skip most of them as we need to know only the concepts .
