h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

First of all, congratulations! This is a really well-written article. It manages to explain the physical principles very simply, without sacrificing accuracy.

As an aside, it's interesting that NMR scanners are now called 'MRI' for 'Magnetic Resonance Imaging'. They changed the name because people didn't like the word 'Nuclear' in NMR; they didn't realise that the 'nuclear' stuff is already in their head, not in the machine!

Also, one of my lecturers at Uni did a lot of work on NMR technology; in particular, finite-element analysis stuff.

(And if you (or anyone reading this) immediately think of Billy Connolly and the electromagnetic field around a beer can, then yes, you know *exactly* who I'm talking about! )

Thank you: I wrote it because most people seem to think it's all about levitating trains, whereas it's rather more complex (and interesting) than that. Most accounts of the phenomenon either simply describe its applications or go rambling off into incomprehensible mathematical territory. I thought it a challenge to write an article which gave an in-depth account without getting mired in rigour.
judging by your response it seems like I mostly succeeded.

I agree wholeheartedly with your lament about the 'MRI' scanner: it's a sad indictment of the degree of scientific literacy in the country that most people don't realise that every atom in their body is 'nuclear'. Mind you, it's a sad indictment of the same in other countries, that an alarming proportion of their populations still think that dinosaurs walked alongside men, and that the sun orbits the earth.