Some of our chicks, from the batch started the week before the MRI chicks, have hatched overnight ! More are hatching right now. Watch here or on "Today's News" for video or photos.

Also coming soon - the sounds of the MRI machine.

Today's MRIs are similar to yesterday's, although the pictures are not as clear. The chick seems to be more or less in the same position, head on the left, in the front view. Perhaps it is now too cramped in the egg for it to turn around.

If you have a better image, please post it on Scratchings. I didn't have time to look at all of them.

One noticeable feature is the pair of dark bars, one on either side of the body (visible in yesterday's side views). You can see them in frame 102 today. What are these ? We thought they might be the lungs - collapsed at present since they are not in use - but it seems that bird lungs are different from mammals, and may not actually be paired. Or they might be bones - the equivalent of "shoulder blades"^*

Another feature seems to be the heart, in frame 107. The bright spots above and below it are signals from the blood in the ventricle. These spots are in the wrong places because they are moving too rapidly. Notice that each spot has the same shape. The aorta or vena cava is visible to the right of the heart, also with several displaced spots.

As noted yesterday, the egg compartments have changed a lot since last week. However, today, we were able to compare T1 and T2 images and determine that the smaller compartment near the small end of the egg (e.g. CD-56 in frame 112) is probably the remains of the yolk (the contrast appearance is similar to the yolk in last week's images.

MRI: Front views.
Here are some front views. Positions (offset) are indicated:

Frame 80: -8 mm

MRI: Side views.
Here are some side views. Positions (offset) are indicated:

Frame 97: +4 mm Frame 112: +4 mm

MRI: Top views.
Here's a top view showing some details of the heart. See the explanation above.

Frame 107: +2 mm Frame 107: Enlargement

Are these the feet?
Here are two views showing a shadowy structure that might be the chick's feet. I think this is a reasonable assignment, since I was able to follow this through several slices back toward the body. They are really big! Notice how they penetrate into the yolk sac area. Probably what we see is the amniotic fluid around the feet, rather than the feet themselves.

Frame 228: +4 mm side view Frame 238: +5 mm front view