It may surprise you that, despite our seemingly vast knowledge of the human body, were still decently in the dark when it comes to the smaller portions of the cardiovascular system. Even more surprising, the answer to that problem isnt lying in more powerful microscopes. Its in a heart pumping pure, shiny liquid metal.Until now, modern imaging techniques have given us a fantastic understanding of the hearts larger blood vessels, but theyve done little to give us a clear view of the innumerable smaller branches these vessels break into. As we stand today, one of the most widely used imaging methods involves filling the vessels with a contrast agent typically iodine that absorbs x-rays more than the tissue around it, resulting in an image in which the vessels themselves are very much apparent; the denser the contrast agent, the clearer the image. The only problem is that our current contrast agents carried a pretty limited rate of x-ray absorption—until now, that is.

via These Are the First Ever Images of a Heart Injected With Liquid Metal.