Results: A prototype sensor the size of a sugar cube can measure the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain, report researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, and their colleagues. Why it matters: Commercial devices based on the new technology may prove useful for detecting changes in brain behavior caused by brain injury. Such devices could be smaller, cheaper, and more portable than MRI or CT scan machines or conventional brain-wave detectors, which require bulky cooling systems filled with potentially dangerous coolants such as liquid helium.
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