Molecular genetics has proved a rich source of imagery and ideas for contemporary artists, as the DNA sequence/spinal-column dress shown here attests. It forms part of the collection Primitive Streak, a collaboration between designer Helen Storey and her sister Kate, a research biologist. Their work, and that of other artists inspired by the genetic revolution, is the subject of The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004) by artist Suzanne Anker and the late Dorothy Nelkin, a social scientist. Anker and Nelkin seek to place these images in context within the history of art and to provide insight into the social and cultural meaning of the genetic revolution through the gaze of artists. They explore themes including the meaning of mutation and the blurring of species boundaries.