Coffee break! Time for a few tangents
In this post we're going to do a whistle-stop tour of some background concepts that you should have seen before. None of the information in today's series of videos is essential to understanding what's coming up later, when we get to k-space, the EPI pulse sequence and artifacts, but it's interesting and useful to review. Besides, these videos are well made, entertaining and are available free so we might as well use them! So, if you have the time, go grab a coffee and spend the next hour being reminded of things you probably knew at some point in a dim and distant past. You might even learn something about scanner hardware you didn't know before.
The anatomy of a miniature scanner
Don't worry too much about following every detail in today's first video, which dissects a miniature MRI scanner. It contains the same basic components as your fMRI scanner. Below, I've given a few explanatory notes on the coils and components that are most relevant to us.
