In the past year, magnetic resonance has assumed an increasingly important role in the study of patients with epilepsy that now extends beyond its demonstration of neuroanatomy and neuropathology into the fields of neurochemistry, neurometabolism and neurophysiology. For proper use of this information, epileptologists, neurologists and neuroradiologists need to understand the limitations as well as the strengths of this technology. Magnetic resonance literacy will increasingly become an essential part of all of these disciplines.