Since its inception in the 1970s, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become invaluable for an array of diagnostic procedures. And, since MRI uses an electromagnetic field to generate the image, rather than radiation, it’s assumed to be safer than other techniques like CT scans. Until recently, creating the images required the patient to remain motionless, and it was impossible to get a clear picture of a constantly moving organ like the heart.

In a report published in NMR in Biomedicine, scientists from Göttingen, Germany describe how they drastically reduced the amount of time needed to capture an image &mdash down to one-fiftieth of a second. As a result, MRI can now capture movement with much greater fidelity, allowing doctors to create videos of organs moving in real-time.

The researchers write that they hope this technology can improve medical knowledge about diseases of the joints and heart. It could also make the MRI procedure more comfortable for future patients, who won’t have to worry so much about sitting perfectly still.

After the jump, we’ve got two videos demonstrating the new MRI technique:

Real-time MRI captures movements of tissue and muscle during speech production:

And allows an up close view of the human heart:

(Both videos courtesy of Jens Frahm)