Skip to Content

A Cheaper Image

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans have long been used for brain imaging. Now clinicians have also started using them to detect cancer. The accuracy of these 3-D imaging systems could reduce the need for biopsies and invasive surgery. However, each machine costs up to $2 million; as a result, only a few hundred machines in the world are up and running. Acton, MA-based PhotoDetection Systems has developed a PET system that could cut the cost in half-and detect tumors with greater resolution. Like other PET machines, the new system uses a crystal to convert gamma rays (the high-energy photons emitted from an injected radioisotope in the patient’s body) to light. But instead of using more than a thousand pricey photosensors to read the light, it relies on an array of optical fibers to pinpoint the position of the light emerging from the crystal. The machine can then detect tumors as small as four millimeters in diameter, as well as larger but less active tumors that would normally go undiagnosed. The company hopes to have a machine ready for testing by mid-2003.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.