Science Communication and the Art of Not Stealing

Taking someone’s property without permission isn’t cute. It’s wrong. (Photo credit: Lunch Photography)

I love art. In my free time, I enjoy visiting galleries and museums; in my professional life, I occasionally work with artists and designers on various communication projects. For these and other reasons, I know that art has value.

And I’m not talking about some ethereal sense of moral, spiritual, or aesthetic value. I’m talking about dollars and cents. Art is, after all, a product. It is produced by the labor of artists. It is bought and sold – which means it can also be stolen.

Modern Science, Meet the Modern Poet

Image Credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Charles Bane, Jr. Bane is the Pushcart-Prize nominated author of “The Chapbook” ( Curbside Splendor, 2011) and “Love Poems” ( Kelsay Books, 2014).

Help Me Help a Great Science Blog Become Self-Sustaining

(Image courtesy of Buzz Hoot Roar.)

This is a post about a problem that I am hoping you, dear readers, will help solve. Namely, how can a creative, dynamic blog that started as a pet project evolve into an entity that is self-supporting? (And no, I’m not talking about myself.)

Shoot What You Know: an Interview with Alex Wild

An Ant-Decapitating Fly (Phoridae, Pseudacteon sp.) attempts to separate a fire ant (Solenopsis macdonaghi) from her nestmates. Lone ants make easier targets. Parque Nacional El Palmar, Argentina. Image: Alex Wild.

There is some truth to the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. And, if done well, photographs can make science communication efforts more appealing and effective to a wide variety of audiences.

Inform, Engage and Inspire: an Interview with Jen Christiansen

Illustration by Jen Christiansen.

Visual art is an important communication tool. To drive home the point, think of all the magazines you know of that have no photographs or illustrations. Short list, right? That’s because reading unbroken blocks of text simply doesn’t have the same appeal as reading stories and articles that are highlighted, broken up, complemented or entirely driven by images.

Art as a Science Communication Tool: I Need Your Help

Photo credit: asifthebes/stock.xchng

Visual art has the power to inspire, provoke and fascinate. I know some incredibly talented artists that focus on scientific subjects, and I think their work is a beautiful and valuable science communication tool – but I’m having a hard time quantifying that value. So I want you to help me out.