Climbing into an MRI machine this morning to provide control data for a research study being conducted by one of my colleagues felt like being an astronaut. Unfortunately, just as I settled back for an hour of contributing data by lying back and doing nothing, there was a glitch on the controlling computer and the session had to be aband0ned (research machines get pushed harder than the ones used for diagnostic scans but, just like researchers, there is some allowance made for them to have their flaky moments!).

I’ll go back sometime in the next few weeks; having gone through all the preliminary forms and checks, it would be a shame not to complete the experience. At least it wasn’t like a real space trip – I wasn’t sitting on top of tons of highly combustible fuel when the launch computer decided not to play ball!