E c d y s i s Fa l l 2 0 1 6
E C DY S I S The Harvard College journal for the artistic expression of science
Cover Art: Northern krill, by Dennis Zhang ’18 Logo Design: Ariana Chaivaranon ’18 ecdysisjournal.org
Braintree Printing Braintree, MA 2016
Editor’s Note
Welcome back to Ecdysis. With this second issue, we have shed our first skin. And beneath the chitinous shell lies a core more flexible still. Our artists — engineers, biologists, economists, medical students, Romance language literati, and the most blissful among us who have yet to choose a field — have pushed the limits that even an exoskeleton provides to once again set science loose, and let it tell itself into poetry. In these pages, you will behold the ritual of a cedar waxwing courtship, the most graceful prisoner of a (merciful) spider, the untold mythology of our atomic progenitor. You will come face to face with our astral furnace, and behold the life-giving order beneath a mushroom cap. With the humble ingredients of cheesecloth and resin, you will get a chance to ask yourself what it is that unifies and separates the diversity of life. At Ecdysis, we recognize those that seek to outdo themselves as they grow. Yet note that we are not named after the arthropods, worms and other creatures that ecdyse, but after the process itself. Now formally established on campus, and with a batch of new members, we are always looking ahead. We’d like to spread the mutualism of art and science beyond the issue in your hands, and perhaps break into dialogue along with our new skin next spring. But for now, dig in. Our art can’t wait to meet you. - Rebecca Greenberg ’18
Board
Editor-in-Chief | Rebecca Greenberg ’18 Managing Editor | Silvia Golumbeanu ’17 Associate Editors Visual Art | Lily Lu ’19 Auditory Art | Vaibhav Mohanty ’19 Writing | Joy Li ’19 Technology Chair | Vaibhav Mohanty ’19 Publicity Chair | Trevor Chistolini ’18 Staff Colin Criss ’17 Katja Diaz-Granados ’20 Nisarga Paul ’20 Vivian Qiang ’20 Mahlet Shiferaw ’20 Dennis Zhang ’18
Table of Contents
8 ................................................................................................................................ Rotating Stability by Trevor Chistolini 9 ............................................................................................................................................. Engineered Heart by João Ribas 10 .................................................................................................................................................. Bower by Silvia Golumbeanu 11 ................................................................................................................................................................. Waxwings by Lily Lu 12 .......................................................................................................................... Green Anole, Suspended by Rachel Moon 13 .............................................................................................................. Actinobacterial Colonies by Scott A. Chimileski 14 .................................................................................. On the Sexual Organs of the Hydrogen Atom by Nisarga Paul 16 ........................................................................................................ Cinereous Ground-Tyrant by Katja Diaz-Granados 17 ..................................................................................................................................................... Desert Silk by Amy Huang 18 ................................................................................................................................... Animalcula by Andrés Álvarez Dávila 22 .......................................................................................................................... On Flights and Stillness by Ellen Zhang 23 ..................................................................................................................................... Butterfly Motion by Dennis Zhang 24 ........................................................................................................................................ Our Vision, Theirs by Javier Masís 26 .............................................................................................................. Meeting Planets, Face to Face by Spencer Scott 28 ............................................................................................................................ Stooping Mushrooms Scott A. Chimileski 29 ............................................................................................................................................... Velvet by Cameron Krulewski 30 .................................................................................... A Red Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm by Scott A. Chimileski 32 .................................................................................................................... Fern Leaf Microbiome by Scott A. Chimileski 33 ................................................................................... To the Tree on the Corner of the Lawn by Silvia Golumbeanu 34 .................................................................................................... The Ancient Chalk Graveyard by Scott A. Chimileski 35 ........................................................................................................................................ Emerald Monarch by Amy Huang 36 ............................................................................................................................ Peking Opera on a Spaceship by Sam Wu 38 ......................................................................................................................................... Floating Rings by Sabrina Richert 39 .................................................................................................... Weaver on a Thatched Roof by Maximillian B. Prager
Rotating Stability by Trevor Chistolini
This long-exposure photograph captures the dual trajectory of a thrown, spinning solid. Several planks of wood were fastened together, and lights were placed at its center of mass and outer edges. The multiple patterns observed in this photograph illustrate the independent paths of the two lit areas: the center of mass of the object traces a parabola in the air, while its edges rotate about the center in a cycloid, or scalloped, curve. Nikon D5500, Photoshop, Lightroom
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Engineered Heart by João Ribas
This painting aims to convey the conceptual basis for the engineering of artificial cardiac tissue. The heart outline invokes the enclosed space of a well plate, petri dish or bioreactor, which is always surrounded by cell culture media. The blue shapes inside the heart recall the geometric aspect of a heart’s structure, which holds both biological and mechanical significance. Touches of gold paint around the heart epitomize the value and societal significance of creating cardiac tissue. Acrylic, marker, and spray paint on canvas, 18”x24”
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Bower by Silvia Golumbeanu the ribbon from a baby’s shoe and the cobalt husk of an old fruit and some of the smoke from the old yard and here, the powder of billiards chalk or was it the dust humans sometimes use to anoint the arch of the eye, longing towards the sky I too would bring a piece down for you, here, beside the bottle caps in all flavors of plastic and metal the banquet of periwinkle lining this dr scholl who must be missing his footprint I have placed so well beneath this floss container my love for you, the dim hue of my body, the glow of us two
Male bowerbirds build elaborate ornamented nests called bowers to attract potential mates. Males of the Satin bowerbird have a fondness for blue, and will decorate their “courtyards� with every object they can find in the color, often including manmade objects.
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Waxwings by Lily Lu
Bohemian waxwings (top) and cedar waxwings (bottom) are in the Bombycilla family of birds and are named for their red wing tips that resemble wax. While these birds may look sleek and elegant, they can occasionally get themselves intoxicated while feeding on a few too many fermented berries, which are a staple in their diet. Pairs of waxwings also perform a mating ritual where the male will pass a berry to a female; if interested, she will return it. The exchange often continues several times, perhaps to reinforce the bond. Watercolor, colored pencil, ink pen, 9�x12�
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Green Anole, Suspended by Rachel Moon
A green anole hangs caught in a spiderweb — a strange new prey yet untouched by its predator. Sony Alpha 57
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Actinobacterial Colonies by Scott A. Chimileski
These naturally pigmented colonies were formed by the soil bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. Streptomyces coelicolor is a member of the phylum Actinobacteria, a group of microbes that produce some of our most widely-used commercial antibiotics. Canon 5D Mark III
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On the Sexual Organs of the Hydrogen Atom by Nisarga Paul We investigate the engenderer of elements. The magician of cheap textbook tricks says he can see into the motorheart of a violin, feel the pulses of a supernova, sense the electron darting around the proton, dotting. He says: you probably think the wavefunction disappears into the past, smeared away by the seconds that pass, but I know that seeing the present is knowing the past, but knowing without seeing is best. There lies a continuum of uncertain truths in a measureless dot; I’ll conjure creation with a stick of chalk. A sudden calamitous birth from which the hydrogen atom burst. We want to know how it bred. We seek to show how heavy elements of its flesh could grow, how many rose, from cosmic inferno — I suppose something went awry in the starry sky, in the unfurling of fire, the brute heat at the heart of a whitehot star, something inspired, enjoined, the atomic loins to create, congeal, spit out a pale blue dot. The great ellipse of its flight was drawn, like electron paths of theories outgrown, to quicken measureless earthen ages, to freeze and thaw, renew, to breeze and brew clouds colluding, collecting vapors of atoms of oxygen and hydrogen, and summer rains pelt dusty lands to mud as muddy minds see blackboards lined with dust. The universe, spun into chalky strands, strained half-dimmed eyes in the half-dimmed light. Against his urges I stepped forward to observe it to find its wavefunction’s collapse as insignificant as mine.
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The hydrogen atom, composed of an electron and a proton, is the most fundamental element in the universe. Under the Big Bang cosmological model, hydrogen was the first element to form. Clouds of hydrogen then condensed into stars under gravitational attraction. Nuclear reactions at the cores of hydrogen stars produced heavier elements. Eventually, all matter — from planet Earth and its inhabitants to the largest of galaxies — arose from this process. In quantum mechanics, every physical system, from a hydrogen atom to the entire universe, is described by a wavefunction: a probability function of space (3-D position) and time from which we can extract the energy, angular momentum, and other quantitative properties of the system. Since wavefunctions yield all measurable aspects of a system, a system whose wavefunction has been solved is considered understood. Atoms occur at multiple energy levels (eigenstates), each with its own corresponding wavefunction. One of the great triumphs of quantum mechanics has been describing all possible wavefunctions of the hydrogen atom. The wavefunction of the universe, also known as the Hartle-Hawking state, theoretically contains all of the physics of the universe and its beginnings. Because the observation of a system causes the wavefunction to collapse — alter in an unpredictable way — the consideration of a wavefunction describing a system that also contains the observer raises deep questions about sentience, perception, and what it means to understand, observe, and disturb the universe.
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Cinereous Ground-Tyrant (Muscisaxicola cinereus) by Katja Diaz-Granados
Like its name suggests, the Cinereous Ground-Tyrant spends most of its time on land, moving around by hopping instead of flying, often nesting in cavities hidden by rocks. Its subtle dusky coloration allows it to blend into its surroundings and thrive in an otherwise barren landscape, illustrating how seamlessly form can match function. Specimen found in Birds of the World collection, Harvard Museum of Natural History. Photoshop, 13�x10�
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Desert Silk by Amy Huang
Antelope canyon is a series of slot canyons located in Page, Arizona. Water has sculpted the sandstone for millenia. Rains steadily beat the rock, while flash floods tear through narrow passageways with sandy gusto. As light changes with the seasons, the canyons turn from blazing red and orange to dusty blue and deep, moody purple. Canon T5i, 18-55 mm lens
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Animalcula
by Andrés Álvarez Dávila
In the taxon Animalcula, each member of the family posesses a unique morphology and behavior. The creatures are made of cheese-cloth that is dipped in resin and suspended. The drying resin bends and shapes the cloth, animating the forms in unique and often unexpected ways.
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spectrum evansecens
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trialatus volans
quinqualatus volans
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quatrupes obliquus
duodecipes volvens
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On Flights and Stillness by Ellen Zhang
The swarming hum around nectar-sunken hives. His warm breath sweeps, pulsing like thousands of honeybee heartbeats. Tweezers twist, turn: a waggle dance of apidae lore. This, this now: the blowing of glass, the curling of chitin. Marvering is a frenzy, cooling the sighing of release moisture evaporates while glass pulsates a synonym for a life lone and longing — even bees would be deceived.
I wrote this poem after visiting the Glass Flowers and the live bee exhibit, Honeybees in Action, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. A few notes on the poem: a returning forager honeybee shares information about the direction and distribution of flowers to other colony members through a figure-eight motion known as the waggle dance. Chitin is a sugar molecule found in the exoskeleton of insects and other arthropods. In glassblowing, glass is rolled into shape on a marver, a flat steel surface resistant to heat.
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Butterfly Motion by Dennis Zhang
In this kinetic sculpture, the butterfly’s body oscillates in opposition to the wing movements, modeling the features that characterize a butterfly’s signature zigzag flutter. The effect is a result of the abnormally huge wing area to body mass ratio of butterflies. Though the flight seems aimless and carefree, it may in fact be a key means of predator evasion as it allows the butterfly to adopt an unpredictable path. Balsa wood, jewelry wire, and paper, 3.5”x3.5”x9”
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Our Vision, Theirs by Javier Masís
I study vision in the rat. Typically, I teach them to distinguish between two objects. If one object shows up on the screen, they lick to the left; if the other comes on, they lick to the right. But how far can I push this? I began designing new 3D object pairs and soon realized that the rats – despite how I would assign ‘left’ and ‘right’ – were licking based on the relative similarity of the new object pairs to the old object pairs. Knowing their strategy, I began designing objects purposefully similar or different to the previous objects and assessing the rats’s preferences. How we define similarity, however, is a tricky thing and a field of active research. Is it Euclidean distance? How does it change based on experience? All I know is that, for the most part, my concept of similarity matched theirs. In this way, the results became not so much about the rat but about us both, uncovering common aspects of our cognition, and likely with it, evidence of a shared evolutionary past. POV-Ray (tracing program)
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Meeting Planets, Face to Face by Spencer Scott Dr. Henry “Trae” Winter III is an astrophysicist at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Dr. Winter creates software to explore how energy is dispelled from the sun and other celestial bodies. He has analyzed data and designed instruments for eight NASA sun observation missions. Equally dedicated to diffusing his research to the public, Dr. Winter has created close-up video portraits of the sun and other bodies in space. The videos are updated daily for surface activity such as flares and eruptions, and projected on 7-6 feet displays, allowing the public an immediate, visceral connection to faraway celestial bodies. Dr. Winter has displayed his artwork at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, and the Harvard Art Museums’ Lightbox Gallery. What first drew you to the study of astrophysics? I saw Star Wars at a very young age (the originals, not the terrible prequels) and that opened my mind to the wonders that the outer reaches of space might hold. Since then, I stayed interested in science fiction of all types, but I didn’t believe that it was possible to actually have a job in astrophysics until my college years. After trying many majors, I discovered that physics gave me the same thrill of discovery that I experienced in that movie theater watching the Millennium Falcon so many years before. I worked very hard, and had confidence that a career in any field is possible if you care deeply about it and work hard. Since I am at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics now, it would seem that I was right.
How did you get involved with creating video walls displaying astrophysical phenomena? I started by hacking video cards to do numerical simulations for my scientific work. When the Atmospheric Imaging Array (AIA) was about to come online I had the knowledge to use off-the-shelf components to build a video wall to view it four times better than HD movies. This skill saved the project tens of thousands of dollars, and gave me a reputation for finding solutions that worked on a budget. I enjoyed working with museums and libraries and they liked working with me, and the word spread. Now it is the main part of my job, and I love it. What process do you go through in the design and implementation of your displays? So many people start by finding the newest technology available and then figuring out what they are going to do with it. I find that to be completely backward. I start with the audience. Who are they? What experience do you want them to have? What information are you trying to convey? Then I take a hard look at the budget, both in dollars and in time. Once you have those two items clearly in focus, the technological questions answer themselves. Also, I always ask questions to people in other fields. Not only do I enjoy working with artists, designers, and educators, but they have a completely different perspective on how to convey information and tell a story. Combining their skills with mine creates something better than any of us could have created alone. It seems that today, science is moving more into the public eye with Discovery Channel specials and celebrity astrophysicists attempting to create a more scientifically informed society. How has this shaped your work? Science has always been in the public eye in one way or another. Not only do new discoveries — from penicillin to general relativity and gravitational waves — have a real impact on our life, but people are naturally curious about the world they live in. Showing people vast images of the sun in ways they have never been able to see it before inspires a sense of awe and wonder. It certainly
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You recently gave a talk last year, “Big Data to Big Art”, at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. What does it mean to you to make art from science? To me, making art from data means to make very human choices. We are swimming in an expanding sea of data. How we comprehend and use that data are choices that say a lot about us as human beings. Trying to interpret three terabytes of data a day requires a large number of choices: What do I leave in? What do I take out? What colors do I use to represent a certain value? These are all the same questions that an artist asks when he or she paints a portrait, landscape, or tries to represent something far more abstract. Just like inspires me. I hope to help change the myth that science every artist makes unique choices to represent the same is only for a select, few “smart” people and out of reach theme, so do scientists representing their data. Hopefully, for everyone else. Science should be and is accessible to the choices made both by artists and scientists have an everyone. It impacts everyone, and should be presented impact on their audiences. to the public in a clear language. Carl Sagan started that trend, and his successors like Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson have built upon his work in a spectacular way. I try to learn from what they have done, but not repeat it. I am focused on showing people how exciting and wondrous science and space exploration can be, so that the desire to learn more comes from within.
Photos by Eric Long, Smithsonian Institution.
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Stooping Mushrooms by Scott A. Chimileski
Orange mushrooms (Mycena leaiana) grow on a decaying log near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Each pictured mushroom is merely the visible reproductive structure, or fruiting body, of an extensive subterranean network of ultra- fine threads known as hyphae. The papery slots beneath the caps maximize spore dispersal by increasing the surface area of the mushroom. Meanwhile, the hyphae feed the fungus. As they break down organic matter into nutrients, they also help drive the cycle that sustains the local food web. Canon 5D Mark III
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Velvet
by Cameron Krulewski
Most deer shed and regrow antlers each year. Bony and branching, they can also be surprisingly grisly when deer shed their velvet, the layer of vascular tissue that nourishes the growing bone. As thus, the antlers recall a decaying rib cage. Yet as crucial drivers of sexual selection during the breeding season, antlers are the key to new life. Magpies often perch on elk and other deer to pick bugs from their fur, echoing the cyclical nature of the antlers. Graphite, ink, and colored pencil, 12�x10�
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A Red Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm by Scott A. Chimileski
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Though they are often considered asocial cells that swim around by themselves, microbes in nature form biofilms, communities of many thousands or millions of cells. For the overwhelming majority of microbial species, these communities exist in nature and pose no danger to humans. This biofilm, however, was formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen in plants and animals, including humans. The cells in this biofilm are held together by an extracellular matrix, here stained red within the growth medium. For pathogens like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, this extracellular matrix can protect the cells from antibiotics and from the immune system cells of its host. Canon 5D Mark III
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Fern Leaf Microbiome by Scott A. Chimileski
Underlying the ecosystems we see are the invisible ecosystems of microorganisms. Every fern leaf in the forest is lined with hundreds of bacterial and fungal species, many of which form the base of the local food web. Here, a fern leaf was pressed on a growth medium. Over a period of days, the leaf ’s microbes grew into visible colonies. The resulting print is dotted with the pigments of its residents, allowing us to get some sense of the variation and spatial distribution of the fern’s microbial communities. Canon 5 Mark III
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To the Tree on the Corner of the Lawn by Silvia Golumbeanu should i wait for my hair to grow. should i wait for the great gown of living to run down my back, for time to be more than a habit. should i wait to feel it like the brush of unfamiliar fingers, to be yanked by the wind, to be heavier than the rain. should i wait to hide my baldness again beneath the tangled curtain of possibility, clothing that only covers, does not remove our nakedness. should i wait for the patience of my body to converge into these magnificent layers, layer by layer, here encasing a bouquet of protons, here, this bundle of impossible fibers. here, where death grows from roots of life. should i billow like a flag atop these bones, to pose some resistance, to soar with millions of nerveless limbs beyond my field of vision. should i huddle against my own warmth should i become my own home should i let the patience of my body weave me a gown so glorious the world will pick it apart again. Trees are living testaments of time. They live so long that they evolve relatively slowly. Some trees grow fruit that evolved to feed now-extinct megafauna. In this way, trees are a biological snapshot of another place and time — self-made monuments.
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The Ancient Chalk Graveyard by Scott A. Chimileski
A scanning electron microscope reveals Cretaceous-era fossils of the extant coccolithophore phytoplankton. These unicellular, photosynthetic microorganisms are distinguished among algae by their disc-shaped calcium carbonate shells called coccoliths. As the organisms die, they fall to the ocean floor. Their bodies decompose but their shells persist, accumulating over time. These deposits condense together and some eventually rise to the surface as the chalk outcrops now visible to us throughout the world, including the famous White Cliffs of Dover in the United Kingdom. Today, coccolithophores are one of the most abundant primary producers in our oceans, responsible for much of the oxygen we breathe. Zeiss Ultra 55 Scanning Electron Microscope, Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS)
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Emerald Monarch by Amy Huang
This basilisk lizard (Basiliscus plumifrons) was found during the Herpetology spring field trip at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. Shortly after the shot, the animal reared and took off in a remarkable, if less-than-elegant, two-legged escape. The species can also run bipedally on water for up to fifteen feet, using its delicate toe fringes to create tiny air pockets that keep its body from sinking. Therein its well-earned moniker of “Jesus Christ lizard.� Canon T5i, 55-250 mm lens
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Peking Opera on a Spaceship (as in-flight entertainment) by Sam Wu
A page of the score.
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Organs once represented the pinnacle of technology. In a religious context, they symbolized a sonic connection to the divine. The organ’s sound inspires a sense of awe, a mixture of fear and yearning for a place that is largerthan-life. To me, imagining travel among the stars elicits a similar emotional response. By paralleling organs with spaceships, the piece attempts to illustrate our obsession with the unknown, which is central to our attraction to the sublime.
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Floating Rings by Sabrina Richert
The rings are made out of wool that has been rubbed and needle-felted until it took shape. Wool is a renewable natural fiber often sheared off sheep once a year. Wool from each species has a unique look and feel, due to the different size and properties of the microscopic scales on each wool fiber. In this case, the wool fibers stick out from the rings, allowing them to appear to float without touching their neighbors. Wool rings, 1/8� thick, 3/4� diameter
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Weaver on a Thatched Roof by Maximillian B. Prager
I encountered these weaver birds while collecting entomological and herpetological specimens on the island of Vamizi, off the Northeast coast of Mozambique. Weavers construct helical nests out of twigs and grass, often hanging them from manmade structures like this thatched roof. I have at times witnessed these birds plucking twigs out off the thatching, only to move them down a few feet and weave them into their own dangling homes. Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 18-135 mm lens
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Contributors
Scott A. Chimileski is a microbiologist and photographer based in the Kolter Lab at Harvard Medical School, where his research activities are focused on imaging the social, multicellular and emergent properties of microbes. Scott is also working on a microbe exhibit to open at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in 2017 and writing a book that communicates the unseen biology and beauty of the microbial world to a general audience (to be published by Harvard University Press, also in 2017). Trevor Chistolini is a junior concentrating in chemistry/physics and philosophy, aspiring artist, and middle child. He likes getting lost in the woods and in fictitious stories. Andrés Álvarez Dávila is a senior at the college studying Romance languages and literatures. He loves exploring old cities. Katja Diaz-Granados is a freshman from Miami, Florida who plans on concentrating in integrative biology. In her free time, she enjoys taking care of adorable froglets in the O’Connell dart frog lab. Silvia Golumbeanu is a senior in Currier House studying integrative biology with a secondary in English. She can usually be found spilling coffee on something or singing, occasionally at the same time. Amy Huang is a senior in Eliot house concentrating in economics and global health and health policy. She sends the dos millónes de colónes she earned from this publication to her OEB 167: Herpetology fam, who reminded her how to be still and appreciate life’s little wonders. Cameron Krulewski is a sophomore in Cabot House studying mathematics and physics. You can find her hawkspotting on campus. Lily Lu is a sophomore at the College studying integrative biology. She is currently pre-med until she finds something better to do, which may involve birds or illustration. Javier Masís is a fourth-year graduate student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences studying the neuroscience of vision. He loves to spend his time thinking about how our brains shape our perception of the world and how art can help communicate these discoveries.
Rachel Moon is a recent graduate who concentrated in integrative biology. She is currently working at Harvard Medical School studying the facial development of neotropical bats. She loves taking photographs of wildlife and nature. Nisarga Paul is a sophomore at the College studying mathematics and physics. His only real goal in life is to write poetry in outer space. Maximillian B. Prager is a sophomore in Dunster House studying integrative biology. He spends his summers conducting herpetology research in Gorongosa Park, Mozambique, where the unique wildlife and scenery inspire his writing and photography. Sabrina Richert is a freshman in Lionel, and is undecided on her concentration. She raises sheep, and uses their wool to make art. JoĂŁo Ribas is a Ph.D. candidate researching ways to engineer hearts and blood vessels at Harvard Medical School. He hopes to finish his thesis before he dies of cardiac arrest. Spencer Scott is a sophomore studying astrophyics at the College. Sam Wu is a senior in Adams House joint-concentrating in music and East Asian studies. He is currently regretting the decision of opting to write both prose and music for his thesis. Dennis Zhang is a junior at the college studying mechanical engineering. He loves insects and sleep, but has found neither to be particularly abundant during the school year. Ellen Zhang is a sophomore living in Quincy concentrating in the life sciences. She is actively involved in other publications, including The Harvard Crimson, Tuesday Magazine, and Prescriptions.
Acknowledgements
Dr. Brian Farrell, for his last lecture in OEB 10: Foundations of Biological Diversity, Spring 2016, which inspired the aim of this magazine. The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, for their interest in the educational aspect of our mission and for their media support. The Elson Family Arts Initiative Fund, The COOP Public Service Grants Program, and the Office for the Arts for their generous gifts that made this publication possible. Dr. Robert lue, for his advice on exploring the interface between the arts and the sciences. Dr. David Edwards, for his mentorship and introduction to his inspiring art & design center Le Laboratoire Cambridge. Dr. Oliver Knill, for introducting us to the art of multivariable calculus and linear algebra and to the Elson Family Arts Initiative Fund. Dr. Andrew Berry, for knowing interesting people and pointing us towards them. Dr. Elena Kramer, for introducing us to the impressive arts initiative in her class OEB 52: Biology of Plants.
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