How your MRI scan benefits science

A precise map of a living brain is of immense interest to researchers – but won’t always help the patientSir Peter Mansfield, who died on 8 February, won the Nobel Prize in 2003 for pioneering magnetic resonance imaging. MRI, and the detailed images it produces, has been a huge benefit for the study of the brain. Its greatest innovation is allowing us to see which parts of the brain have been damaged while a patient is still alive. In the past, we had to wait until a postmortem to fi