Scientific Illustration

neuraldamage:

Illustration of the pancreas, from De Succo Pancreatice: or A physical and anatomical treatise of the nature and office of the pancreatic juice, by Reiner de Graaf, 1676

VISUAL STRATEGIES A Practical Guide to Graphics for Scientists and Engineers, by Felice C. Frankel and Angela H. DePace is an indispensable tool for scientists in all disciplines who want to communicate their findings more clearly and effectively.

Graphics—visual representations of data and concepts—are critical components of today’s scientific and engineering research. Images engage readers in ways words cannot. Explanatory graphics clarify or strengthen an argument by guiding readers through complex material. Exploratory graphics draw readers into the research process, allowing them to discover patterns and relationships for themselves.

In the past, research institutions hired specialists to help scientists visually communicate their work. Today, most scientists are responsible for creating their own graphics, yet few are trained in design concepts or graphic skills.

This practical guide sets out clear strategies and offers abundant examples to assist researchers—even those with no previous design training—with creating effective scientific graphics. Visual communications expert Felice Frankel and systems biologist Angela DePace, along with researchers from many different fields, demonstrate how small changes can vastly improve the success of a graphic image. They dissect individual scientific graphics, show why some work while others don’t, and suggest specific improvements. The book analyzes graphics that have appeared in such journals as Science, Nature, Cell, Annual Reviews, PNAS, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Leading graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, who designed VISUAL STRATEGIES to be practical, easy to use, and visually exciting, provides insight into the process of designing for science in a Q and A interview with authors Frankel and DePace. Prominent researchers from chemistry, materials engineering, biology, physics, astronomy, and other disciplines discuss their own approaches to design problems and explain their real-life solutions from a personal perspective. Stunning before-and-after images offer a window on the creative and often exciting process of refining graphics to enhance the way they convey scientific findings.

fuckyeahdinoart:

Happy New Year from Hell Creek by ~Durbed

neuraldamage:

by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, ca. 1751

puszcza:

Man, says science, is simply a highly developed cat (New York Journal, 1898)

“Phylogenetic relationships of extant Mysticeti (baleen whales) based on combined parsimony analysis of 23 datasets. Filter-feeding mode of each mysticete family is shown (A–C)”

A phylogenetic blueprint for a modern whale. Gatesy J, Geisler JH, Chang J, Buell C, Berta A, Meredith RW, Springer MS, McGowen MR. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Oct 26. pii: S1055-7903(12)00418-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.10.012. (pdf)

paleoillustration:

“Smilodon attacking American camel” and “Homotherium chasing off a dire wolf” by Steve White

marywilliams:

Sandhill Cranes.

Colored Pencil, Watercolor, Digital. 8.5”x11”

<3

Prints are available if you are interested! Limited number, message me if you’re interested! :)

thescienceofreality:

What’s a Normal Star?

“Normal stars such as the Sun are hot balls of gas millions of kilometers in diameter. The visible surfaces of stars are called the photospheres, and have temperatures ranging from a few thousand to a few tens of thousand degrees Celsius. The outermost layer of a star’s atmosphere is called the “corona”, which means “crown”. The gas in the coronas of stars has been heated to temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius.

In medium-sized stars, such as the Sun, the outer layers consist of a rolling, boiling turmoil called convection. A familiar example of convection is a sea-breeze. The Sun warms the land more quickly than the water and the warm air rises and cools as it expands. It then sinks and pushes the cool air off the ocean inland to replace the air that has risen, producing a sea-breeze. In the same way, hot gas rises from the subsurface layers that extend to a depth of about 200,000 kilometers, cools at the surface and descends again.”

Read more…