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Comment by Frummy | Hacker News Reader

I recently had the idea to start a company that measures specifically properties of the pineal gland, I think people would pay for that. I have no domain expertise whatsoever. If anyone wants to investigate this deeper with me let me know

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I don't know how it goes in the US, but AFAIK there needs to be an actual medical reason to expose people to ionizing radiation. That is presuming that you would want to go for the most affordable option of using CT scanner which would set you back for three quarters of a mil approximately in hardware alone. Using an MRI would easily double or triple that, but it would provide better image.

I don't think there's enough rich pineal gland enthusiast to justify the cost, even if the system was truck mounted and mobile and thus hypothetically able to reach wider customer base.

Yeah the focus would be on inventing non-radiation means of scanning, e g further developing Ultrasound Elastography (vibrations) or Diffuse Optical Tomography (near-infrared light). So there's the concept of a thingamajig, a plot device that moves things forward. Focusing on a narrow area gives opportunity for specificity hacks that can then unlock further pivot opportunities. You know start specific and go wider once something works

You want an ultra-low field MRI.

But that'll still be expensive to develop, slow and still potentially lethal if done sufficiently wrong

Thanks for the advice. Potentially, it's not insanely farfetched to assume AI and math (currently doing math) can unlock more precision with less data and invasiveness. While it's at one level physics, stronger algorithms and analysis can maybe reduce the size + cost + danger of the hardware, as well as require less data for more precision. Just a hunch. There are always plenty creative ways to experiment without animal harm as well, just a matter of attention and will to explore. Yeah, safety is super important, and if this sort of scanning can be made better in a fresh way that would unlock a lot. Just like having a 10x cheaper API that does the same job automatically becomes useful in new unforeseen ways.

Why?

Money Oh that sort of why Because it's a spiritual thing, the yuppies who are also slightly hippies would want to see size and health and calcification %, more data sort of like a feedback loop like if you can do crunches and see more pronounced abs in the mirror, why wouldn't you want to meditate and drink and eat healthy and see if stuff changes in the physical state of the brain

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