Never mind that they showed the difference between heavy water (with deuterium atoms) and ordinary water (with hydrogen atoms) in a way that no image had done before.

ECONOMIST: Paul Lauterbur, father of MRI, died on March 27th, aged 77

The water molecules' two hydrogen atoms, which are split from oxygen by electrolysis, go in different directions.

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The hydrogen protons attach to the oxygen atoms, creating water.

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Here, they recombine with the protons, and also oxygen atoms, to make water.

ECONOMIST: Fuel cells hit the road | The

His speciality for a long time, before he had developed the technology he needed, was fuzziness or rather, that interesting gradation of shading, pinpointed by hydrogen atoms, that showed where the water content of the cells was changing, and tissues were becoming diseased.

ECONOMIST: Paul Lauterbur | The

The now positively charged hydrogen atoms migrate through the membrane to combine with oxygen on the air side to create water.

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The researchers looked at the different types, or isotopes, of oxygen atoms trapped in the samples and, using a well-established technique, were able to infer water temperatures at the time the organisms built their shelly parts.

BBC: Dinosaurs felt the heat

Atoms of elements with boiling points below the temperature of a particular plate pass over it, just as water runs over a warm river-bed.

ECONOMIST: Nuclear waste