Rough Diamonds

These pink diamonds each have a flaw; their 'truncated octahedral' shape might be snubbed by jewellers, but then again, they’re also 25 times smaller than engagement ring stones. Looking more like a handful for red sand by eye, they’re being used to improve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Normally, MRI relies on huge magnets to temporarily align or polarise the direction or spin of particles inside the human body – differences across these patterns recreate a picture of living tissues. These deformed diamonds can be polarised in a lab without large magnets, then – as odd as it may sound – injected directly into human tissues, acting as a contrast agent to boost MRI signals. Transferring their polarised properties to their surroundings, powdered diamonds could also help to prepare cheaper liquids, like water, for use in MRI – reducing the need for bulky, expensive magnets and making MRI more portable and affordable around the world.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image by Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley
• Department of Chemistry, and Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Science Advances, May 2018