Since scientists created the first magnetic resonance images (MRIs) in the early 1970s, the technology has grown more powerful by leaps and bounds--so much so that the Food and Drug Administration has capped the level of magnetism to which humans can be exposed. Eight tesla was the maximum in 2003, until University of Illinois at Chicago scientists rolled out a 9.4 T scanner, which eventually gained FDA approval.

But that's not the world's most powerful MRI. Bruker BioSpin, who built a 9.4 T scanner for MIT, upped the ante and designed an 11.7 T MRI scanner. In 2009, the University of Texas announced plans to install an 11.7 T MRI scanner in its health center.