"In Plain Site," Science Gets a New Look with the Help of Art

You might not know it, but things are, as they say, "hiding in plain site," at least according to University of Delaware professor John Jungck. Fortunately, researchers believe that with the help of art, people can see what's already right in front of them.

Canoeing on a lake near his home in northwestern Minnesota when he was young, Jungck became enthralled by the patterns of the cloud formations he saw as the fog lifted according to the University of Delaware. 

Jungck, who is a respected biologist and mathematician, a AAAS Fellow, a Fulbright Scholar to Thailand, a Mina Shaughnessy Scholar and editor of Biology International, studies the patterns that can be divulged through nature, also known as radiolaria.

Radiolaria is the marine microbes that he refers to as "amoeba that live in glass houses."

These organisms with glass-like skeletons have an awe-inspiring symmetry and geometry. 

Jungck uses them in his teaching and research in mathematical biology, as well as 3D FractaL Tree, a software program he co-developed that allows students to build realistic three-dimensional computer models of trees from just a few measurements from actual trees. 

The tree-building process not only helps students appreciate the aesthetics of nature, he says, but the mathematics of biological systems. Important lessons all around.

"The new forms of visualization available today show how the combination of art, biology and mathematics saves lives - would you rather have a brain biopsy to investigate a headache problem, or rely on magnetic resonance imaging that's dependent on math?" he asks.

That's a no-brainer, of course.