How does physics allow us to look inside the body?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 physics, engineering and biology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Professor Simon Cherry and Professor Ramsey Badawi, biomedical engineers at the University of California Davis. They have developed the world’s first full-body scanner, which has the potential to revolutionise medicine and biomedical research.

• This resource also contains an interview with Simon and Ramsey and offers an insight into careers in biomedical imaging. If your students have questions for Simon and Ramsey, they can send them to them online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Simon and Ramsey will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Simon and Ramsey’s research and challenges them to uncover the historical physics discoveries that have paved the way for Simon and Ramsey’s medical scanner and imagine how biomedical imaging will advance in the future.

• The accompanying PowerPoint reiterates the key points in the article and encourages students to reflect on their own aspirations.

• In the accompanying podcast, Simon discusses the importance of pursuing your dreams and having confidence in your abilities.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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