Art in science

Recent articles

A planetarium for the brain

Tyler Sloan’s new film, more than a decade in the making, takes viewers on an immersive journey.

By Emily Singer
27 July 2026 | 1 min watch
Kieth Hengen looks through a small window, aligning his face with a fancy moustache sticker and rolling his eyes comically to the side.

Computational neuroscientist Keith Hengen explains his work through illustrations

The images help him communicate the “big-picture ideas” behind the mathematical principles of neuronal networks.

By Helena Kudiabor
7 April 2026 | 4 min read
Drawing by Santiago Ramón y Cajal of a hypothesis for how signals travel through neurons.

‘Sacred objects’ display discredits Golgi and Ramón y Cajal’s rivalry: Q&A with curator Daniel Colón Ramos

A new exhibit that opened last week shows drawings from the influential duo side by side for the first time and recasts them as collaborators. It also reveals lessons for modern scholars.

By Claudia López Lloreda
10 December 2024 | 9 min read
Illustrated portrait of Kanaka Rajan.

How neuroscience comics add KA-POW! to the field: Q&A with Kanaka Rajan

The artistic approach can help explain complex ideas frame by frame without diluting the science, Rajan says.

By Olivia Gieger
9 October 2024 | 7 min read

Redrawing Santiago Ramón y Cajal: Q&A with Dawn Hunter

The painter and visual arts professor spent hours recreating Ramón y Cajal’s art and poring over his sketchbooks and self-portraits in the National Archives of Spain, uncovering unappreciated aspects of his techniques and influences.

By Rebecca Horne
4 June 2024 | 9 min read
Portrait of the interior designer Madeleine Castaing by the French painter Chaïm Soutine.

The creative brain—an edited excerpt from ‘Essays on Art and Science’

In his new book, neuroscientist Eric Kandel explores how sensory perception and higher-order cognitive processes influence our experience of art.

By Eric Kandel
19 March 2024 | 8 min read

Unmasking Alzheimer’s disease

People with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease describe why they enrolled in clinical trials through the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), in a new book of portrait photography.

By Rebecca Horne
13 November 2023 | 6 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Speech bubbles progress from light- to dark- colored.

Amid funding uncertainty, neuroscientists report a mix of cynicism, persistence

Two years into one of the most tumultuous tenures in U.S. federal funding, researchers outline how they are coping with ongoing changes and reflect on the impact these changes are having on the system more broadly.

By Emily Singer
28 August 2026 | 5 min read
Stages of neurodegeneration: Neurofibrillary tangles at different stages of neurodegeneration are labeled with phosphorylated tau antibodies (green and blue).

Reimagining Mexico’s brain bank

Since Alzheimer’s disease researcher José Luna-Muñoz assumed leadership of the facility—Latin America’s oldest—in 2011, he has been acquiring additional tissue types and is working to expand donor recruitment to rural areas.

By Alejandra Manjarrez
28 August 2026 | 7 min read

Revealing how crabs make their escape

Houdini-like Neohelice granulata offers a rare opportunity to record intracellularly from awake, behaving animals.

By Natalia Mesa
28 August 2026 | 0 min watch