When Art and Science Meet, Nanoscale Smiley Faces Abound [Slideshow]

Caltech researcher Paul Rothemund folds DNA strands into an origami of nanosize shapes and patterns

SNOWFLAKE What appears to be an alien topography is actually a rendering of a snowflake, only smaller. In addition to rendering two-dimensional shapes, Rothemund can create reliefs. Courtesy of Paul W. K. Rothemund
DNA Rothemund's work is probably one of the few that will at once bring to mind artist and pop culture phenom Andy Warhol, along with the duo James Watson and Francis Crick, the co-discoverers of DNA's double helix structure... Courtesy of Paul W. K. Rothemund
REDISCOVERING THE AMERICAS "The choice of images was also political," Rothemund says. "I was counseled over and over by one person to make an American flag, and by others to make a representation of 'Caltech'. I wanted the work to have a more universal appeal & so I chose the smiley face and the map of the Americas... Courtesy of Paul W. K. Rothemund
THE SCIENCE OF ART "I feel like science, as a creative discipline, is a lot like art...and a lot of scientists have what might be considered an artistic temperament," Rothemund says. "There is an art and an aesthetics in picking what question to ask, what tools to use to answer those questions, and especially in how one later visualizes and explains the answers.".. Courtesy of Paul W. K. Rothemund and Nick Papadakis
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50 BILLION SMILES "Nobody in our field ever thought you could make anything that big, that complex, that easily," says Rothemund, who has referred to the individuals in this shot as "buddies". Courtesy of Paul W. K. Rothemund

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