Artichoke, sagittal view, MRI

Collage of multiple cross sections through a single artichoke. The artichoke has been virtually sliced down a vertical axis from the top to the bottom of the vegetable, dividing it into left and right halves (sagittal plane). A series of sequential ultra-thin slices through the entire vegetable were taken and selected slices from that series are shown here. These images were acquired by spin-echo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which reveals details inside the artichoke without damaging it. The images are digitally coloured where contrast corresponds to MRI signal intensity and hue was changed to match the natural colour of the vegetable.