Science and society: art and science collaborations in the United Kingdom

The Beautiful Brain: communicating fundamental neuroscience through masterpieces of art

The Beautiful Brain is a documentary web series that breaks down borders between science and art. Five episodes retrace in a simple, but visually effective, way five key steps of brain development, using awe-inspiring masterpieces of art as analogies. This unconventional series focuses on fundamental research in neuroscience, the communication of which is not always easy and straightforward. In this article, we share our experience of how we tried to overcome the difficulties of communicating fundamental science to the lay audience. Moreover, we give insights into the path we followed to create The Beautiful Brain, with the hope that our experience may be an inspiration to other basic scientists who wish to communicate their own research.

Brian: The Typographical Error that Brought Early Career Neuroscientists and Artists Together

In the project “Do You Mind?” early career neuroscientists and artists collaborated to produce artworks for exhibition.

Imagining the brain cell: the neuron in visual culture

Images of the exquisitely formed apparatus of the nervous system have great potential to capture the imagination. However, the fascinating complexity and diversity of neuronal form has only rarely been celebrated in broader visual culture. We discuss how scientific and cultural practices at the time of the neuron's discovery generated a legacy of schematic and simplified popular neuronal imagery, which is only now being revised in the light of technological advances and a changing artistic climate.