Stories by Kalliopi Monoyios

Art and science are often thought of as disparate entities, drawing on different strengths and different ways of thinking. This is surely true, but the disciplines also share patterns of thought and essential characteristics.

Much of what we know about the diversification of body plans that happened starting 540-million years ago (commonly known as the Cambrian Explosion) comes from the famous Burgess Shale formation.

How many facelifts can one extinct animal undergo? The answer is probably equal to the number of interested researchers and paleoartists out there, and then some.

Once upon a time, I wrote about five reasons your camera won’t steal my job. In short, the reasons were: 1. Photography cant capture small things 2.

After the State of the Union address last night, everyone is talking about how best to spend tax dollars. So it seems appropriate to bring this into the conversation.

You’ve seen the cartoon before: a fish hoisting itself up on land with its front fins, being greeted with some snarky sign like, “Evolve at your own risk,” or something similar.

Wishing you all a r-evolutionary year from all of us at Symbiartic!

All in all, 2013 was a bang-up year for science art. It seems the genre is gaining ground as more and more exhibits tackle the fascinating possibilities that exist at the intersection of science and art.

Looking for a knock-out gift for the science geek in your life? Look no further. If you like art and you like science, these artists, all featured on Symbiartic at one point, have gifts that will impress even the most jaded gift recipients… Made With Molecules Jewelry by Raven Hanna, PhD.

Scientists are, in general, a rebellious bunch. But Raven Hanna, the brains behind Made With Molecules, may be more rebellious than most. After completing a PhD in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale and doing a post-doc at UC Berkeley, she left the well-trodden path to the Ivory Tower to live off the grid and [...]

A rare alignment of calendars brought an even rarer convergence of events at many Thanksgiving tables this week: Channukah gifts before Thanksgiving pie.

Whether you learned that light was a particle or a wave in high school physics, you likely inferred that only physicists could ultimately weigh in on the subject.

THIS is good scicomm. Why? Well, for many reasons – good writing, good sound, good editing – but by far the most apparent, the reason most people will sit up and take note is because of the strong visuals.

Last month, my co-blogger Glendon Mellow wrote a great summary for scientists who are wondering how to go about hiring science illustrators.

The best Halloween stories are true. There is a lake in Tanzania, Lake Natron, that is so hostile to life that only two species, alkaline tilapia and blue-green algae can live in its deadly waters.

Ahhh, fall. Time to look for more indoor activities. And aren’t you lucky? Here’s a list of sciart exhibits that will warm your heart while you warm your toes.

Have you decided on your Halloween costume yet? If you haven’t already put many hours into this year’s costume, you might consider a new take on the old standby: the zombie.

How many times do you have to do something before it is considered tradition? Last year, Glendon had the excellent idea to post a different #sciart image each day in the month of September.

We’re wrapping up the daily sciart posts today. We hope you’ve enjoyed them! Stay tuned tomorrow for a round-up of the month’s artists and images.

Perhaps you’ve heard about Entelognathus primordialis this week. Wait, the scientific name doesn’t ring a bell on its own? What if I refer to it as the 419-million-year old placoderm fish that surprised everyone with its beautifully preserved, surprisingly modern-looking jaw?

Hannah Bonner is an illustrator who is creating an empire of informative, entertaining kids’ books about paleontology. They remind me of The Magic School Bus series by Joanna Cole: real science conveyed with a wacky sense of humor.

One of the most astonishing illustrated books to come out this year is the work of Katrina van Grouw, an ornithologist and fine artist who counts taxidermy among her eclectic skills.

If there is anything new under the sun it has to be this – and delightfully, it’s the domain of the moon. This spectacular table by Adrien Segal captures tidal data collected from San Francisco Bay for the duration of a full lunar cycle, 29 days in April and May of 2006.

By now you might be used to spectacular images of celestial bodies thanks to organizations like NASA and the ESA. But it’s still possible to be wowed by these images, especially when they’re taken by people like you and me.