WEB FOCUS
Science in Culture
In this focus
Science in Culture discusses the works of art which has been directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, inspired by science. Not restricted to the visual arts, the articles cover all artistic endeavour, from music and dance to cinema and theatre.
Science in Culture
Science in Culture: Beijing bubbles
The Olympic Aquatic Centre will be housed in a giant block of foam.
Philip Ball
Nature 448, 256 (19 July 2007) doi:10.1038/448256a
Science in culture: The clever cone
A new planetarium for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
Martin Kemp
Nature 447, 1058 (28 June 2007) doi:10.1038/4471058a
Science in culture: The obscure clarity of starlight
Anselm Kiefer builds monumental souvenirs of the night sky.
Pete Jeffs
Nature 447, 779 (13 June 2007) doi:10.1038/447779a
Science in culture: Surrealism bites back
Sink your teeth into Jean Painlevé's nature films at an exhibition in London.
Martin Kemp
Nature 447, 382 (24 May 2007) doi:10.1038/447382a
Science in culture: Hidden talent
An exhibition in London explores the art of blending into the background.
David M. Wilkinson
Nature 447, 148 (10 May 2007) doi:10.1038/447148a
Science in culture: A sense of proportion
A painting of Federico Zuccari, the founder of the academy of arts in Rome, clearly demonstrates his credentials in geometry.
Martin Kemp
Nature 446, 482 (26 April 2007) doi:10.1038/446982a
Science in culture: Gene expression
Sarah Jacobs mutates genetic information into art.
Martin Kemp
Nature 446, 496 (29 March 2007) doi:10.1038/446496a
Science in Culture
Lucia Covi uses modern microscopy to highlight the world at the nanoscale.
Martin Kemp
Nature 445, 714 (15 February 2007) doi:10.1038/445714a
Science in Culture: Chart toppers
An exhibition explores the diverse ways of putting data on the map.
Martin Kemp
Nature 445, 368 (25 January 2007) doi:10.1038/445368a
Science in Culture
Vija Celmins' graphite and charcoal drawings are inspired by the natural world.
Colin Martin
Nature 445, 264 (18 January 2007) doi:10.1038/445264a
Science in Culture
The snowflake man
Martin Kemp
Nature 444, 1008 (21/28 December 2006) doi:10.1038/4441008a
Science in Culture
Reaching for the stars
Martin Kemp
Nature 444, 550 (30 November 2006) doi:10.1038/444550a
Science in Culture: Burning Bush
An exhibition in Australia highlights the country's bushfires.
Colin Martin
Nature 444, 426 (23 November 2006) doi:10.1038/444426a
Science in Culture
Artists reveal a variety of responses to the contents of a natural-history museum.
Philip Campbell
Nature 444, 274 (16 November 2006) doi:10.1038/444274a
Science in Culture: Creativity on the wings of a dove
Violet Fire, an opera about the life of physicist Nikola Tesla, fails to spark.
Horace Freeland Judson
Nature 444, 40 (2 November 2006) doi:10.1038/444040a
Science in Culture: Pictures from the edge of darkness
Eight photographers enter the twilight zone.
Colin Martin
Nature 443, 756 (19 October 2006) doi:10.1038/443756a
Science in culture: A modern megalith
Mariko Mori's glass sculpture responds to the death of stars.
Martin Kemp
Nature 443, 636 (12 October 2006) doi:10.1038/443636a
Science in culture
A series of exhibitions across Europe show how Leonardo da Vinci linked art and science.
Stefano Grillo
Nature 443, 510 (5 October 2006) doi:10.1038/443510a
Science in culture: A miracle in sight
Adam Elsheimer painted the starry heavens in 1609.
Martin Kemp
Nature 442, 276 (21 September 2006) doi:10.1038/443276a
Science in culture:
PowerPoint presentations and the culture of pitch.
Martin Kemp
Nature 442, 140 (13 July 2006) doi:10.1038/442140a
Science in culture:
A sculptural approach to the heart.
Philip J. Kilner
Nature 442, 29 (6 July 2006) doi:10.1038/442029a
Science in culture: Home from home
History is brought to life at Benjamin Franklin's house in London.
Colin Martin
Nature 441, 816 (15 June 2006) doi:10.1038/441816a
Science in culture: Artists on a mission
An exhibition in London reflects on the dangers of climate change.
Colin Martin
Nature 441, 578 (1 June 2006) doi:10.1038/441578a
Science in culture: Form becomes feeling
Siobhan Davies looks to science to shape her dance.
Martin Kemp
Nature 441, 410 (25 May 2006) doi:10.1038/441410a
Science in culture: A sense of civic beauty
A Renaissance painting from Urbino reveals the ideal city.
Martin Kemp
Nature 441, 30 (4 May 2006) doi:10.1038/441030a
Science in culture: The zenith of Islamic science
An exhibition in Britain explores a rich scientific heritage.
Philip Ball
Nature 440, 997 (20 April 2006) doi:10.1038/440997a
Science in culture: Eggs and exegesis
Putting the 'history' back into natural history.
Martin Kemp
Nature 440, 872 (13 April 2006) doi:10.1038/440872a
Science in culture: High impact
From protons to galaxies, Cosmic Collisions shows us what happens when things go bump.
Michael Hopkin
Nature 440, 746 (6 April 2006) doi:10.1038/440746a
Science in culture: Porcelain perception
Not everything is as it seems in the ceramics of Pauline Wiertz.
Colin Martin
Nature 440, 424 (23 March 2006) doi:10.1038/440424a
Science in culture: A bigger picture of apes
The recent King Kong film highlights how our perceptions of gorillas have changed.
Janet Browne
Nature 439, 142 (12 January 2006) doi:10.1038/439142a
Science in Culture
A nativity scene painted by Hugo van der Goes bears a medical message.
Martin Kemp reviews
Nature 438, 1084 (22/29 December 2005) doi:10.1038/4381084a
Science in culture: Dying for a drink
Evolution goes backwards in the latest Guinness advertisement.
Martin Kemp
Nature 438, 564 (1 December 2005)doi:10.1038/438564a
Science in culture: Monkey business
Charles Darwin changed the way animals were viewed in art.
Colin Martin
Nature 438, 289 (17 November 2005) doi:10.1038/438289a
Science in culture
William Hunter at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Martin Kemp
Nature 437, 482 (22 September 2005) doi:10.1038/437482a
Science in culture: Surface tensions
A reinterpretation, using damaged photographs, of a failed attempt to fly to the North Pole.
Colin Martin
Nature 436, 629 (4 August 2005) doi:10.1038/436332a
Science in culture: A trick of the tiles
Penrose tiling is realized on a huge scale in Perth to give a perceptual feast for the eyes.
Martin Kemp
Nature 436, 332 (21 July 2005) doi:10.1038/436332a
Science in culture: The music of life
Composer Thilo Krigar seeks to represent the flow of genetic information.
Juliane Mössinger
Nature 435, 280 (19 May 2005) doi:10.1038/435280a
Science in culture: Womb with a view?
All is not as it seems in a television programme on the life of a fetus.
Martin Kemp
Nature 435, 147 (12 May 2005) doi:10.1038/435147a
Science in culture: Polluting utopia
The idyllic reputation of a lost island community may not be wholly deserved.
Andy Meharg reviews
Nature 434, 959 (21 April 2005) doi:10.1038/434959a
Science in culture
Thomas Heatherwick's sculpture for the Wellcome Trust's new building in London.
Martin Kemp reviews
Nature 434, 565 (31 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434565a
Science in culture
The artist Joseph Beuys tried to lead his followers into a promised land of transformative imagination.
Martin Kemp reviews
Nature 434, 141 (10 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434141a
Museum:
A medical history
Nature 434, 23 (3 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434023a
Exhibition:
Leonardo's legacy
Nature 433, 803 (24 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433803b
Eastern promise
The Queen Anne churches in east London were precisely aligned on an east-west axis.
Heike Langenberg
Nature 433, 687 (17 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433687a
A galaxy of elements
It's still the periodic table — but with a twist.
Martin Kemp
Nature 433, 461 (03 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433461a
Science in culture
A disputed portrait of Robert Hooke may in fact show a contemporary.
Philip Ball reviews
Nature 433, 197 (20 January 2005) doi:10.1038/433197a
Science in culture
The origin of the archetypal image of the chemist.
Philip Ball
Nature 433, 17 (6 January 2005) doi:10.1038/433017a
Facial diversity
An exhibition in London features the changing expression and representation of the face.
Jonathan Cole
Nature 432, 20 (4 November 2004) doi:10.1038/432020a
Great, not gruesome
Pat York's photographs of dissected humans represent a fine body of work.
Martin Kemp
Nature 431, 511 (30 September 2004) doi:10.1038/431511a
Dali's immortality of the soul
A documentary film reveals the great surrealist's passion for science.
Alison Abbott
Nature 431, 247 (16 September 2004) doi:10.1038/431247a
A measured approach
Alex Colville's exhaustive search for mathematical probity.
Martin Kemp
Nature 430, 969 (26 August 2004) doi:10.1038/430969a
Shaping up at Olympia
Geometry lies at the heart of sculptures from the Temple of Zeus.
Stefano Grillo
Nature 430, 616 (05 August 2004) doi:10.1038/430616a
A fluid definition of art
Viewing images of liquid crystals as art raises complex questions.
Martin Kemp
Nature 429, 506 (03 June 2004) doi:10.1038/429506a
Top of pageReviews
Exhibition: Art shadowing science
Colin Martin reviews Systema metropolis by Mark Dion
Nature 448, 26 (4 July 2007) doi:10.1038/448026a
Exhibition: A Wellcome addition
Sara Abdulla reviews The Wellcome Collection
Nature 447, 1056 (28 June 2007) doi:10.1038/4471056a
DNA cycle
A gene sequence decorates a new cycle path in Cambridge
Nature 447, 911 (21 June 2007) doi:10.1038/447911a
Film: An unfamiliar face
Emma Marris reviews In Vivid Detail
Nature 447, 263 (17 May 2007) doi:10.1038/447263a
Exhibition: A painful pleasure
Artistic and medical views of pain go on show in Berlin
Stefan Klein
Nature 447, 262 (17 May 2007) doi:10.1038/447262b
Theatre: Here's looking at you
Serendib by David Zellnik
Nature 446, 859 (19 April 2007) doi:10.1038/446859a
Film: Dark days ahead
Richard Webb reviews Sunshine directed by Danny Boyle & Alex Garland
Nature 446, 615 (5 April 2007) doi:10.1038/446615a
Exhibition: For the love of Greece
Carl Rottmann's Hellenic murals are exhibited again in Munich
Nature 445, 882 (22 February 2007) doi:10.1038/445822a
Drifting into art
Nature 445, 487 (1 February 2007) doi:10.1038/445487a
Exhibition: The ballerina within
Laura Spinney reviews Picasso XRAYS
Nature 444, 149 (9 November 2006) doi:10.1038/444149a
Exhibition: Casting a long shadow
Laura Spinney reviews Melancholy: Genius and Insanity in the West.
Nature 439, 21 (5 January 2006) doi:10.1038/439021a
On top of the world
Nature 438, 741 (8 December 2005) doi:10.1038/438741a
Exhibition: A close look at Darwin
Alan Packer reviews Darwin
Nature 438, 741 (8 December 2005) doi:10.1038/438741b
Theatre: Self deception
Lucy Odling-Smee reviews On Ego
Nature 438, 741 (8 December 2005) doi:10.1038/438917a
Installation: Uranium days
Sylvie Coyaud reviews The Children of Uranium
Nature 438, 428 (24 November 2005) doi:10.1038/438428a
Exhibition: In the croak room
Nature 438, 27 (3 November 2005) doi:10.1038/438027b
Theatre: Two exiles
Alan Packer
Nature 437, 1236 (27 October 2005) doi:10.1038/4371236a
Exhibition: Collectors' items
Nature 437, 955 (13 October 2005) doi:10.1038/437955b
Exhibition: Lighting up the background
Nature 437, 817 (6 October 2005) doi:10.1038/437817a
Virtual life
Nature 437, 623 (29 September 2005) doi:10.1038/437623b
Exhibition: Apollo in the lab
Robin Clark reviews
Nature 436, 27 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/436027a
Theatre: Artistic differences
Robin Clark reviews
Nature 434, 1071 (28 April 2005) doi:10.1038/4341071a
Exhibition:
Passing thoughts
Michael Hopkin
Nature 434, 824 (14 April 2005) doi:10.1038/434824b
Exhibition:
Hirst's hobbit
Michael Hopkin
Nature 434, 702 (7 April 05) doi:10.1038/434702b
Museum:
Waxing and waning
Achim Schneider
Nature 434, 439 (24 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434439a
Museum collection:
A taste of their own medicines
Nature 433, 108 (13 January 2005) doi:10.1038/433108a
Kraftwerk: Electronic evolution
Julianne C. Mossinger & Claudio R. Alonso
Nature 428, 896 (29 April 2004) doi:10.1038/428896a
The sound of extinction
Poets and scientists join forces in the name of conservation.
Peter Bennett
Nature 438, 859 (29 April 2004) doi:10.1038/428895a
Top of pageFeatures
Islamic science: Rebuilding the past
Western science owes much to Islam's golden age - a debt that is often forgotten. To help redress the balance, Fuat Sezgin has reconstructed a host of scientific treasures using ancient Arabic texts. Alison Abbott reports.
Nature 432, 794-795 (16 December 2004) doi:10.1038/432794a
Science in the movies: Hollywood or bust
Last month, a handful of scientists who have toyed with the idea of writing for the movies were given a masterclass by Tinseltown's finest. Jonathan Knight joined them.
Nature 430, 720-722 (12 August 2004) doi:10.1038/430720a
Neuroscience: Change of mind
A brain haemorrhage turned an ex-convict into an obsessive artist. Jim Giles meets him and the scientists studying his case.
Nature 430, 14 (01 july 2004) doi:10.1038/430014a
Art conservation: Biology for art's sake
Paintings and other works of art are under attack from insects and fungi. Conventional pesticides don't help - they, too, can damage precious artefacts. Hannah Hoag meets a biologist who is finding gentler alternatives.
Nature 428, 886-887 (29 April 2004) doi:10.1038/428886a
Science at the movies: The fabulous fish guy
Last year's movie smash Finding Nemo impressed many marine biologists with its scientific accuracy. Alison Abbott meets the young expert in fish biomechanics who helped to breathe life into the film's stars.
Nature 427, 672-673 (19 February 2004) doi:10.1038/427672a
Music and Chemistry: Organ failure
Across continental Europe, historical instruments are falling silent, muted by a new and mysterious form of corrosion. Tom Clarke speaks to the chemical detectives who are striving to protect our musical heritage.
Nature 427, 8-9 (01 January 2004) doi:10.1038/427008a
Video violence: Playing with fire?
The latest computer games involve pretty gruesome scenes - severed limbs and drive-by shootings are standard fare. But opinion is divided on whether such games spark real-life violence. Tony Reichhardt investigates.
Nature 424, 367-368 (24 July 2003) doi:10.1038/424367a
