Hospital scanners use antimatter to find tumors
Modern medical imaging relies on the explosive meeting of matter and its mirror image, a process that releases energy identical to the physics of deep space.
To find a tumor, hospital PET scanners create a controlled environment for antimatter to annihilate. The process begins when a patient is injected with a tracer that releases positrons—the antimatter twins of electrons. When a positron meets an electron inside the body, they instantly destroy one another. This tiny explosion converts their combined mass into two high-energy light particles, called gamma rays, which shoot out in exactly opposite directions.
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