Science Fact of the Day

Science Fact of the Week!

Did you know that the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) migrates en masse from Canada and the Northeast United States to Central Mexico to spend the winter in warmer weather? No single butterfly makes the whole trip, though. Females lay eggs along the way back north and the next generation completes the trip.

When an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine scans your body, it uses a strong magnetic field to excite the Hydrogen protons in your tissues, then introduces radio waves, which when switched off, produce a response radio signal that is amplified and transmitted to a computer that can then be converted into a visual image of the tissues inside the body. The computer does this "automatically," which is part of what we study in our Robotics and Automation class. An MRI is not harmful at all, and more accurate than X-Rays, which use radiation that can damage the DNA in your cells. Below is a MRI image of Mr. Miller's head. This proves that he actually does have a brain! Can you see his eyes?

An MRI image of Mr. Miller's head.