Whole body scans. Coloured magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) whole body scans of a man (left), a woman and a nine year old boy in coronal (frontal) section. The whitish skeletons consist of the long bones of the limbs and the vertebrae of the spine. At top the brains are seen in their skulls. The lungs (dark) in their chests, the lobes of the livers (pale ovals) in their abdomens and the bladders (dark ovals) in their pelvises are also visible. These whole body images are composites of many MRI scans made along the length of the body and then combined. MRI scanning uses radio waves and a powerful magnetic field to produce slice images through the body.