Much happened in Honolulu too.

I delivered three talks on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The Wednesday talk was as a substitute speaker for Prof. Jang-Yeon Park, on the basics of MRI, in particular on the k-space. The talks are all recorded for later views for the meeting registrants. For example, the educational talk is at https://ismrm2025.blazestreaming.com/sessions/ismrm-2025-w-04 (Starting at 40 min mark).

Thanks to the remote registration option, even on-site attendees can now watch most oral sessions from the hotel room, with the benefit of unobstructed, high-resolution view of all the slides. So if one is not particularly interested in seeing the speaker, nor in asking live questions, this was a handsome option not only for convenience but also for quick hopping among many parallel sessions.

One caveat for my future reference: Uploaded talk slides may have automatic slide advance turned on -- make sure this be turned off. 

On the exhibition floor, Chinese companies are clearly gaining ground, with one company displaying an impressive model of rotating whole-body 1.5 T scanner for multi-orientation scans. Notably, Hyperfine missed the show, presumably for financial reasons. To all who I met in person in Honolulu this week, thank you for your kind greetings, and my best wishes!

Much happened before Honolulu

In a busy, dynamic month, we now have the compact 3T scanner working again in Mayo Clinic, and have obtained the first ever -- in history of MRI -- images out of the low-cryogen human head 7T scanner. The former is significant because of the near-continuous operation of the world's only low-cryogen 3T high-performance head scanner for nearly 10 years. The project was meant to last for about 5 years at the beginning. This feels like a Mars rover outliving its planned operation time. The second, compact 7T images, will be much discussed in the upcoming ISMRM meeting in Honolulu. I wish the scanner were a bit more compact physically, but both compact 3T and 7T systems show the direction of MRI that I think is right for its future. That is, to maintain its unique, non-invasive high-resolution imaging, while reducing the footprint and operation cost in order for better access and new applications. Let there be no peers and don't compete with low resolution imaging devices.

I had travelled to Mayo Clinic for a week last week, to see a good weather there in a very busy schedule. Mayo Clinic is thriving, with many expansion constructions on display on the streets.