2 ms·
MRIs depend on liquid helium, a scarce material by definition, but that's besides the point. There is a high bar to becoming a physician because the consequenc
by jrowley 7y ago
MRIs depend on liquid helium, a scarce material by definition, but that's besides the point.
There is a high bar to becoming a physician because the consequences for error can be so incredibly high. I want there to be more physicians/access to medical care than ever but I don't think compromising on quality is the way to get there.
- polishdude20 7y agoActually helium being scarce is a myth.
- jrowley 7y agoAre you sure? Seems to be pretty well documented that there is a shortage? https://priceonomics.com/the-increasing-scarcity-of-helium/ https://priceonomics.com/the-increasing-scarcity-of-helium/ http://www.heliumscarcity.com/ http://www.heliumscarcity.com/
- labawi 7y agoWhen it's cheaper to keep refilling an MRI scanner that boils off lots of helium, than buying one that loses only a little bit, then yes, you use a lot of helium. It's not like we haven't discovered higher temperature superconductors that could be used, even if we didn't have helium. EDIT: You can permanently fill 100 of these[1] per year with the boil off of one shitty MRI. Is uses about 1kg of He, so one year of world helium production would be enough to make one MRI machine for every 200 people. We are not constrained by helium. [1] https://images.philips.com/is/content/PhilipsConsumer/Campaigns/HC20140401_DG/Documents/Option%20sheet_BlueSeal_with%20name%20tag.pdf https://images.philips.com/is/content/PhilipsConsumer/Campai...