Nature Graphics

CONTROL ISSUES

Background. Time to re-write organic chemistry textbooks: a catalyst has been developed that recognizes the topology of just one face of a planar reaction intermediate. Remarkably, this enables one mirror-image isomer of the reaction product to be made selectively.

In a nutshell, the research describes a new way to hold a molecule in place at a particular orientation. This work will presumably enable future researchers to explore a vast new ‘chemical space’ of all possible molecules. (An accessible summary of the research can be found in this excellent News & Views piece. Paywall)

Design challenge. Unlike some papers in Nature, this one is not easily understood by those outside the field. When we decided to feature it on the cover, we knew it would be a challenge to visualize. We called for aid -  and expert scientific illustrator Ella Marushchenko answered! Ella has created many striking journal covers in the past, so we knew she would be up for the challenge. 

This from Ella about her process:

“In the article, scientists described a new way to hold a molecule in place at a particular orientation. ‘Directing the undirectable’ was the working cover line at the start of the project, and helped inform our thinking. One of the ideas which came from the editors was to show a trigonal planar cation being held in place by the catalyst, with the attacking group coming from the other side. We worked with corresponding author Eric Jacobsen to refine this idea. He helpfully sent us ChemDraw files of the molecules, and worked closely together with Kelly and me on the cover image.

Our challenge was to visually convey the idea that a molecule was being controlled. This requires some sort of visual metaphor that people can relate to. The first idea was to show the molecule being held by a hand. Modeling of the hand is always a challenging part for me because the hand should look anatomically correct and elegant. To model a hand holding something I always look at my own hand and try to see it from different angles. I took a 3D printed molecule and started rotating it to find the best perspective. 

While I was doing it my cat decided to help me and played a role of the attacking molecule, displaying previously undiscovered acting talent (second image).

Kelly asked me to show the hand in a wireframe style, to make it more symbolic than realistic, and I agreed with her because I really like this style. I decided to show all molecules in 3D with reflective materials. To show the difference between the three substituents on the intermediate, I decided to use not only shape and color, but also different numbers of polygons. In this way the difference between three substituents was obvious. 

One of our first drafts shows the wireframe hand holding a molecule in place (third image). While this overall composition works well, the idea of using the hand did not work out. The hand overlapped oddly with the trigonal planar cation, and was too large when rendered from that angle, which distracted from the molecule itself. After some discussion, we decided to try something less prominent than the hand, agreeing to show control by tweezers (final cover, top image).”

Summary. This cover was an interesting exercise in finding the right metaphor to communicate an esoteric, complex idea to an audience of non-specialists. As Nature is a multidisciplinary journal, we walk a line between getting the essentials of the art right for specialists, while at the same time creating a dynamic and understandable image for scientists outside of the field.

The design solution of the tweezers enables the non-specialist viewer to understand that molecular control is happening, but without having to think too deeply about what is doing the manipulating. Or, for that matter, who owns the hand!

THE MASER, AND HOW TO CAPTURE LIGHT WITHOUT SPECKLES

Background. The ubiquity of the optical laser means that it is easy to overlook its elder sibling, the maser (essentially a microwave laser). First developed in 1954, six years before the laser, the maser has not been as widely used as its optical counterpart, as masers have historically required conditions of high vacuum or extremely low temperature to operate. However, they found application in radio astronomy and deep-space exploration because they offered unparalleled performance as low-noise amplifiers.

This week, Jonathan Breeze and team report, for the first time, a maser that works continuously at room temperature.

Design challenge. We received some striking cover submissions from the research team (second image from the top), but they weren’t quite high quality enough for a print cover. We asked them if they could produce better versions without the speckle effect, which we assumed would be a simple matter, but it turned into an interesting visualisation challenge. I’ve asked author Jonathan Breeze to document his process for us.

This from Jonathan:

“When submitting cover images for consideration, you are aware that the images do not need to be scientifically accurate and can afford some abstraction and artistic licence.

The maser itself is an incredibly simple device: a cuboid of dark red diamond sits inside a colourless and transparent sapphire ring. These two are fixed inside a cylindrical copper can, supported by a hollow quartz rod.

Our first approach was to deconstruct the device a little and take a photograph, but we found that the main point of interest – the diamond – was obscured by the sapphire ring and quartz tubes. We deconstructed some more, showing only the diamond and the sapphire ring, with some white backlighting from a smartphone torch. The result was pretty – the diamond's pinky purple hues more evident – but it still lacked impact.

Thinking about how the maser works – a diamond excited by green laser light – led to the idea of using a handheld green laser pointer to illuminate the diamond within the sapphire ring, producing a red glow from the diamond due to fluorescence.

The results were quite dramatic and abstract. The composition was good, but there was a problem with "speckle patterns" (third image from top). These appear as random noise and are caused by interference between photons scattering diffusely from rough or irregular surfaces. Lasers are possibly the harshest of light sources, revealing every slight defect, scratch or fleck of dust in addition to abundant speckle noise.

The size of the speckles is of the order of 2.4λL/D where λ is the wavelength of light, L is the distance from the object and D is the diameter of the lens aperture. An estimate of the speckle diameter was 5 micrometers, which is greater than the width of pixel elements within a camera CC chip (1 micrometer). Reducing the speckle diameter to below this might help reduce the noise, but it wouldn't be eradicated completely. We sought a better photographic setup too – Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera instead of camera phone (hangs head in shame).

There were a few routes we could explore in order to reduce the prominence of the speckle patterns, although a number of physicist colleagues we spoke to insisted it was a beautiful phenomenon and also useful.  However, when blown up in print, they are somewhat unsightly.

Wavelet de-noising algorithm. This technique is very effective at removing noise without blurring out the edges of features. However, when there is mostly speckle pattern in certain areas of the image, the de-noising algorithm left inhomogeneous blobs of green. It did, however work well where there was less overall speckle.

Laser speckle reducing device. These devices work by vibrating or rotating a frosted glass diffuser plate. It reduces speckle significantly, but increases the beam diameter. This resulted in greater illumination of the sapphire by green light, but unfortunately a lot less of the red fluorescence from the diamond.

Say goodbye sapphire. The sapphire ring, although interesting, was the main cause of scattering and therefore speckle. When we removed it and only lit up the diamond with the laser, we had significantly less speckle (especially over larger areas), there were visible laser beams and also a lot more red fluorescence coming from the diamond. The images were striking. Stuart Penn of Framestore processed the image to remove as much speckle as possible without losing features.

Kelly Krause liked our first attempt, although the colour of the diamond was a little saturated, so we tried again with a better macro lens (65mm Canon MP-E).  This produced a beautiful image of the diamond cube with very little speckle – only some green scattered light from pits in the diamond surface – and far less green laser beam.

Kelly had the brilliant idea of combining the two images to create a composite (bottom image). The faces of the diamond from the most recent image would be copied and superimposed onto the previous image using an affine transformation so that the cube faces matched the geometry of those of the the diamond in the original image.”

Thanks to Jonathan and Imperial College photographer Thomas Angus for your perseverance and de-speckling tips.

HUMAN VERSUS MACHINE

Background. Each December, Nature produces Nature’s 10: a selection of 10 people who mattered in science that year. Past covers have shown a “10″ in a fun way related to a relevant scientific theme. This year, we decided to highlight artificial intelligence. 

Design challenge. But what does artificial intelligence look like - how does one visualize AI as art? We gave this challenge to Martin Krzywinski, data visualisation artist extraordinaire and staff scientist at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre. Martin created a stunning black and white “10″ for us, created using a single line (top image).

It immediately appealed to us as a representation of what a machine derived image might look like, but the story is a bit more nuanced, as explained by Martin (below). To me, the black and white speaks perfectly to how some view AI at the moment - so much promise (represented by white) but with a dark side, the much discussed black box of AI. 

This from Martin, explaining how the cover design process itself was in a way a dueling match between human and machine:

“What do we mean when we say that something is “interesting” to look at? Organized and symmetric or busy and convoluted? Can an optimization algorithm be used to generate compelling design by finding a balance between these properties? How would such a balance be computed?

For the 2017 Nature “10” cover, I wanted to reflect the themes of artificial intelligence into a design that at first glance would be challenging to understand or perceive, but encourage the eye to find the pattern.

Computational approach. To do this, I interpreted the shape of the digits of 10 using the output of a machine learning algorithm that solves the travelling salesman problem (TSP), in which a set of points is connected by the shortest closed path (Fig. 1). This process starts by first representing the image, in this case the “10”, as a set of points (Fig. 1A), repeatedly running the TSP solver and selecting the shortest solution.

There is a certain satisfaction when looking at the automated solutions in Figure 1—they provide the solution to a problem that cannot be manually solved. On the other hand, are these intellectually compelling shapes visually appealing? Where the path generates diagonal cracks in the 10 in Figure 1C is in stark contrast to the otherwise highly ordered weaving of lines—is this combination of order and disorder in balance? Computationally, yes. Visually, I would say not.

Trying it manually. To incorporate design decisions into the process, I created manual solutions that were less short and, I hoped, more interesting (Fig. 2). By starting with a series of guiding lines (Fig. 2A), the first attempts were quite messy (Fig. 2B), followed by ones in which the boundaries of the letters were formed by bends in the lines (Fig. 2C) and finally with paths that looked closer to the TSP solutions in Figure 1, but without the cracks.

The paths in Figure 2C vibrate on the page—they are visually striking but don’t hold my eye’s attention. For example, as soon as you figure out that the lines in the center zig-zag across the page, there is no more mystery. Figure 2D doesn’t assault the eye as much, but follows a recipe (the path snakes across, as much as possible) and once this is quickly discovered, the eye wonders off. The messy take in Figure 2B is a combination of these—there is a variety of ways in which the many paths can bend and run off the page, which make the image more of a maze (the lines can be the path or the walls). It’s a visual trap and this was the approach used to design the static cover image.

Animation. For the web version of the issue, we used the shortest path from Figure 1B together with animation to show how the path evolves—something that is actually quite interesting but impossible to communicate achieve in a static image. We explicitly marked the start and end of the path to form the 10 (Fig. 3A) using “>” and “END” and then connected the inside of the zero to fill the space (Fig. 3B). Simultaneously, the background, which is also rendered as a single path, was animated, so that the screen completely fills over time with a pattern that closely follows a TSP solution.

You may have experienced some discomfort looking at some of the images. This is due to lateral inhibition in the retina, a process in which light and dark field receptors compete. I explored ways in which this effect could be mitigated, such as the use of tone and various line thickness (Fig. 3C), but ultimately decided on the vexing intrigue of the high-contrast version.”

___________

As a case study, this seems to support a notion that humans design for humans, while computers design for computers. Fair enough, as long as we examine how and why they do it.

KANDINSKY MEETS MORPHOGENISIS

Background. This design was for the 2017 cover in an annual series of biology review supplements about challenges in various biological fields for the coming year. The articles are on different subjects, with no topic linking them. I have always taken inspiration for these covers from the paintings of Kandinsky, and have found his mix of organic and geometric shapes to fit the subject matter well.

Design challenge. For this cover, I wanted to produce a piece of artwork that didn’t closely follow a particular Kandinsky painting. I wanted the design to be dictated by the articles themselves, and for the colour scheme to develop naturally.

Ideas and sketches. After reading over the articles I thought that the ones on morphogenesis, patterning and development were the ones that would work best as a basis for my design. I picked out element from two figures. I also looked round for other diagrams on the web that related to drosophila embryogenesis. I then sketched out some ideas (second image, above) making the patterning and folding of the drosophila from to be the main focus. Beneath this, I wanted to have patterns that represented gene expression profiles, that were floating up from DNA. I wanted the whole design to work up from DNA at the bottom, through gene expression, to developmental genes, and patterning and segmentation at the top. I then worked these ideas into a final draft.

Development and final artwork. In the final design (top image) I decreased the size of the main drosophila element and added shapes to balance it on the left. I wanted these to represent 3D development of form, so they morphed from grey and flat to dark with more depth at the front.

For my final colour scheme, I wanted the red and yellow in the stripes on the embryo to really pop from the more subtle blues and purples of the rest of the design. I used brushstrokes across the embryo to represent gradients of expression and of chemical signals that result in segment formation. I added dots and arrowed triangles to further emphasise the signalling gradients in action.

MAPPING HUMAN MOVEMENT

Background. We recently published a special issue exploring the intersection of science and human migration. Researchers warn that misleading reports about the size of flows into Europe and United States are creating unjustified fears about refugees. That is compromising efforts to manage the humanitarian crisis faced by people fleeing war-torn countries. The numbers show that the vast majority of refugees from Africa and Asia sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Only small proportion chose a long and often perilous journey to Europe.

Design challenge. We set out to tell this story visually. Although the original brief for this project included a map as a main element, we ultimately took a different visualization approach. During an ideation session, we used hand drawn sketches (second image, above) to discuss graphic elements and composition, including refugee flows, locations, historical data and changes in migration.

Both the main print graphic (top image, above) and our interactive version (bottom image) were based on a data visualization by Nikola Sander at the University of Groningen.

Print graphic. For the print version all the major region-to-region flows and top 8 country-to-country flows were selected. Since we found the original circle chart hard to understand, we decided to go with an alluvial diagram instead with region of origin on the left and destination on the right. We then used the online visualisation tool RAW from Density Design to plot the data and export it as a vector file.

One of the main challenges for the print graphic was making sure the network of lines in the alluvial diagram would be understood by the readers. The interactive chart allows users to switch between region and country views and displays additional info on hover. Of course that is something impossible to recreate in a static version for print. For the print version we wanted to find the right balance between showing as much information as possible and making the chart clear and easy to digest. Highlighting the top 8 country-to-country flows was the editorial compromise that seemed most sensible choice to everyone.

Interactive version. For the interactive graphic, Nikola very kindly shared her data and code with us so that we could embed the graphic in our article online.

However we had trouble getting the circular design to fit within our slightly narrower columns. Also our journalist on the project, Declan Butler, was concerned that showing migrants, refugees and asylum applicants together would be confusing. As Nikola notes 'every refugee is a migrant, but not every migrant is a refugee’.

Taking inspiration from the website http://peoplemov.in, we opted to present the refugee data as a 'sankey diagram'. Sankey diagrams are used primarily by engineers to demonstrate energy transfer but they are also neatly suited to showing the movements of people. The resulting diagram is very tall, but we found it intuitive enough to scroll up and down the page to follow the connections and hoped that our readers would feel the same way.

The final graphic was built with a Sankey Diagram plugin for the popular javascript library, D3.

As a default the plugin works to position the nodes, or in our case countries, so that there is minimal overlapping amongst the connecting lines. This makes for a less confusing graphic, however it didn’t make sense for the countries to be arranged in a semi-arbitrary order. We tweaked the algorithm so that the countries could be arranged either by continent or by descending totals of people entering or leaving.

The code used to build the graphic is available online at Github.

OUR SEVEN SISTERS

Background. Seven planets whose surfaces could harbor liquid water have been spotted around a nearby dwarf star, TRAPPIST-1. All seven are of comparable mass and size to earth, orbiting a low-mass star roughly the size of Jupiter. If similar configurations are common in planetary systems, the Milky Way could contain multitudes of Earth-like planets.

The planets were revealed through photometric monitoring from the ground and space, in an effort that began in 2010 with a robotic telescope called TRAPPIST in Chile, and also included 20 days of continuous monitoring with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

Design challenge.  Author Michael Gillon and team sent along a beautiful set of cover submissions. We decided to go with something a bit non-traditional - rather than a straight artist conception of the planets in space, we went with a version that shows the system as a model on a tabletop, to illustrate an important point about the possible existence of water (in various phases depending on location: steam, liquid and ice).

The cover was created by Robert Hurt, a visualization scientist at Caltech who works with NASA. 

We asked him about his process. This from Robert:

“It’s a rare opportunity to be able to work on a science result as exciting as the discovery of a planetary system with 7 Earth-like planets, so when designing a concept for cover art I wanted to find an approach that would cover the science points but with a fun artistic angle that could complement them. The core points in this paper are the number and size of the planets, but also the idea that due to the system configuration that liquid water could be possible potentially on any of them.

Early on the idea of arranging the planets on a tabletop sounded promising. With artwork being developed for all 7 planets by myself and my colleague Tim Pyle it would give a lot of visual interest to the tabletop marbles. To work through the ideas I actually dug up a marble collection and played with them on my floor until I found something that looked appealing, and the final layout actually came very close to that initial experiment (see second photo, above).

The color of the star TRAPPIST-1 was the next element to resolve. Traditionally, cool M-dwarf stars have been rendered as deeply red as their spectra ramp up strongly at longer wavelengths. However, examining the spectrum from a similar star and comparing it to the human eye color responses to red, green, and blue, it was evident that something closer to a salmon-orange color would be more correct, similar to a low-wattage lightbulb. However since I wanted to highlight some features on the back side of the planets, including ice caps, adding some extra fill light (easier to justify in a photography studio than in space) did the trick.

Finally to tell the story of water it seemed that having a little water spilled on the tabletop would connect the planets to the possibility of water. By showing the water in all 3 phases, steam closer to the star, frost and ice further away, the concept of the habitability zone could be made intuitively, without the usual band of green. There was an alternate version that showed a lab beaker with water to motivate the spill, but ultimately we converged on the view without the beaker as being the most on-topic.”

WHAT’S KILLING THE WORLD’S SHOREBIRDS?

Background. The decline in shorebird populations is alarming – their numbers have shrunk by 70% across North America since 1970, with species breeding in the Arctic among the hardest hit. Although the population crash is well established, the underlying causes are not always certain. That’s because the birds travel thousands – sometimes tens of thousands of kilometers a year – encountering many different threats along the way. The race is on to figure out what problems are most responsible, with the hope that some protections can be put in place to help the birds bounce back.

One research method is to track the birds. New generation nanotags, satellite trackers and geolocators are providing unprecedented detail on the journeys of shorebirds, which make some of the longest migrations in the animal world. The Motus tracking system uses inexpensive off-the-shelf technology for its 300 receiving stations deployed across the Americas, tracking birds with nanotags that are glued onto their backs.

Design challenge. The first challenge was establishing the size and scale of the graphic. It wasn’t planned as a two-page infographic initially, but rather a smaller graphic accompanying news story. We soon realised that we had enough unique information for a larger stand-alone graphic.

The main design challenge was complexity. The graphic is attempting to combine two different stories: 1) the bird tracking system, comparing types of devices, and showing the network map and the flight paths; and 2) threats to shorebirds, which was the main point of our accompanying news story. Our ambition was to create a clear and logical visual narrative where these two stories overlap.

For the sake of clarity, we used different headline styles and icons to layer the information and create visual hierarchy. One of the things we decided not to include was the extent of the red knot population itself. We knew the birds breed in the arctic and fly south for the winter but the data was kind of vague and we’re committed to use reliable sources. Besides, we thought that adding more layers of information would clatter the map and make it harder to read.

The graphic also required collaboration with experts. We enlisted scientific illustrator Emily Cooper to create the gorgeous illustration of the red knot and the tracking devices. We also worked together with researchers who provided geographical data. This required us to sharpen our GIS software skills in order to create the map.

Background. NASA is planning another Mars rover – its most ambitious yet – to launch in 2020. A chief goal of the mission is to collect samples of rocks and store them in some of the cleanest equipment ever made. Those samples will eventually be returned to Earth to test for evidence of life and clues to the planet’s history.

Design challenge. The aim of this graphic was threefold: to highlight the main features onboard the 2020 rover; to explore the plan for clean storage of samples; and an overview of the entire mission, from landing to soil collection to launching the samples back to Earth.

One of the main challenges for the graphic was our tight timeframe, as we only had a couple of days to complete the 2-page graphic. In order to save time we used visual materials from NASA, for instance the excellent 3D model of the rover and the Mars landscape background, photographed by rover Opportunity in 2015. Other bits - like the helicopter and the sampling tube - were illustrated by us, based on information from the space agency.

The “Sampling and caching” section of the graphic went through a series of alterations. In the concept stage (see sketch, second image) we imagined this to be a detailed visual explanation of the drilling technique and sample collecting process. However, we were unable to pin down the exact details of the method as it turned out the researchers are still conducting experiments and haven’t settled on the final design. After a series of conversations and sketches we decided to simplify this part and only show what we actually do know – the design of the sampling tube and number of tubes carried by the rover.

SIX YEARS OF 10

Background. Each December, Nature selects 10 people who mattered in science that year. We’ve been doing this for six years now, and this year’s list is as insightful as ever, with fascinating personal stories.

Design challenge. Each year we show a number 10 on the cover in a science-y way. This year it relates to a big event in science from 2016. Can you guess? (Hint.)

This year’s fabulous cover was created by JVG. While it may look sleek and simple, getting the waves and grid just right in the 3D render was no easy task. (A physicist was enlisted to help at one point.) The end result is stunning - thanks JVG for the cool take on space time. 

BUILDING QUANTUM MATERIALS WITH MICROSCOPES

Background. Electron microscopy: not just for imaging! Soon the tool could be used to create structures, atom by atom. This sort atomic architecture could transform our basic scientific understanding of materials and pave the way to new classes of devices for quantum computing, spin sensing and more.

How? Electron microscopy is reliable and widely used to view thin sections of materials. It uses a beam of electrons to reveal the material's crystal structure. While doing this, the beam can nudge atoms out of alignment and alter the material's form. This is a problem for imaging, but could be a boon for fabrication — as long as the modifications can be controlled.

In a piece published today, experts explain how it works and what needs to be done to make the ‘atomic forge’ a reality.

Design challenge. We learn new concepts by trying to visualize them, even if we are not always conscious we are doing it. In cases like this one, where the process is cutting-edge and the concept new for most readers, we thought a clear illustrated diagram would greatly aid comprehension.

We started with an excellent sketch from Stephen Jesse, one of the expert authors of the piece (second image), which he created in Blender. It gave us a sense of the general process and structure of the atom forge. We then enlisted scientific illustrators from Xvivo to create an illustration in collaboration with Stephen (top image).

This from the talented artists at Xvivo about their creative process:

“The challenge with the illustration was that the physical structure of the atomic forge doesn’t exist yet. Therefore, it was our intention to give the illustration enough detail to be a believable and impressive machine, while leaving certain pieces of the structure more ambiguous, waiting to be filled in with new ideas and innovations.

Since fabricating new materials is the goal, we wanted the main focus to be at the site of the beam forging new materials. From there, the composition of the piece loops around to illustrate that the process works based on a feedback system. The layout conveys the cyclical process: the beam manipulates the material, the sensor below receives the diffraction pattern, the patterns are sent to the computer, the software informs the beam position, and repeat. We also incorporated blue wires through the structure to reinforce the concept of connecting all of these technologies together in order to form something new.

While the illustration contains details recognizable to experts, such as a reference to qubits and diffraction patterns, the overall structure was distilled to be digestible across a wide audience, just as members from many disciplines are needed to make the idea a reality.”

PS. They also created a fantastic animated version.

IS SCIENCE EATING ITS YOUNG?

Background.  Scientists and policy makers around the world increasingly worry about the plight of young researchers in academia, and for good reason. Competition for tenure-track positions has surged, and some early career researchers face tough odds in the quest for funding.  This week Nature pleads the case for the young in a special issue.

Design challenge.  How do we visually convey the idea that science is eating its young? We felt it was important to represent a system that has gone wrong, with various consequences, in an engaging way. The metaphor of a video came to mind, as young scientists find themselves trapped in framework, playing along.

We gave this brief to Megapont, an artist that specializes in isometric pixel art, and he created a fantastic scene for the cover. The retro gaming vibe gives a sense of an aging system that needs an overhaul. The detail in the artwork rewards the observant reader, with hidden treasures and references to iconic games and other worlds. And check out the tiny rat fleeing the scene - only a few pixels!

Have your say. Perhaps you are a young scientist who identifies with a cover character? Maybe the one slouched in dispair on the floor, or the one cutting out in bunny slippers? We’d like to hear your story – here’s a tumblr just for you: researchrealities.tumblr.com

TELLING TALES

Background. This week we published a paper showing how the bacteriophage T4 uses its contractile tail to inject its genome into a bacterial host cell. Central to this process is the baseplate, at the end of the tail. In a tour-de-force of structural biology, cryo-electron microscopy has been used to create an atomic model of the T4 baseplate in pre- and post-host attachment conformations, providing a molecular view of the transition between these two states.

Design challenge. Nature publishes a lot of striking, novel structures within its pages, but for the cover we often look for images that appeal more broadly. For this cover, the authors sent us a few traditional 3D structural images along with a more abstract interpretation using a polygon mesh style that we found fresh and engaging (cover image, above).

We asked the cover artist, Nicholas Taylor (one of the authors of the paper) to describe his design process:

“The structures in our paper are pretty complicated, and I was interested to represent it in a way that captures the essence. Looking around on design websites, I came across low-poly representations of images, which I thought would be a very interesting treatment for our structures.

I started with real representations of the ribbon model and density of our pre-attachment baseplate (from our Figure 1 in the paper, second image above), and then divided the structure into small triangles, according to a process described here (author of the tutorial: Breno Bitencourt).

It was pretty laborious effort, but in the end, if someone has read the paper, they will likely recognize shapes and colors of the models from the paper.”

We agree. The cover image is a bit different from the cryo-EM figures - adding a bit of creativity - but still recognizable as the T4 bacteriophage. This makes for a winning cover, both meaningful and eye-catching.

THE WORLD IN 2040  (Hope you like robots)

Background. A special issue of Nature asks: are researchers are planning for the world of tomorrow — do we have the tools to account for the far future and are we using and developing them?  As part of this package we looked at how we underestimate the pace of technological change and how tomorrow’s world will be unrecognisable from that of today.

Design challenge. We wanted to tell this story in graphics in order to quantify the pace of change. As a starting point the reporter, Declan Butler, provided lots of data showing how various different forms of technology have progressed over the past 50 years, along with predictions from leading researchers in their fields.

We quickly realised that this would be largely built up from graphs and that ‘time’ would provide the structure for the entire spread. I commissioned the fabulous Greygouar to work on the illustrations for the feature and set about drafting up the graphics.

When creating an infographic built with many individual charts it can be easy to fall into the trap of creating a ‘dashboard’, where all the charts sit in isolation and there is no flow to the whole piece. One of the trickiest parts here was forming a narrative and choosing which technologies to illustrate. I decided to hang all the charts off the same time axis to provide some cohesion and after some very rough drafts (see sketches above) I realised that due to the nature of these charts, I needed more vertical space to display them all. So I tried something a little more dramatic and rotated the spread 90º, giving me a much taller but thinner space to work with.

The narrative developed by adding arrows to lead the reader through the graphs starting with what we labelled ‘enablers’ (technology that are required to enable the future) though ‘drivers’ (physical technology that will help create the technology of the future), finally ending with the expert predictions, which largely focused on robotics and artificial intelligence. Greygouar’s illustrations added visual interest to the graphic whilst also helped with signposting each section (which was essential as the print version reads from bottom to top).

Read the full feature story (and here is a pdf of the graphic).

CRISPR EVERYWHERE

Background: Biologists are using a new technique called CRISPR-Cas9 to quickly and easily introduce genetic changes into plants, animals and - controversially - human embryos. This revolution in biology is being used to combat disease, improve food production, and even make better pets, such as micropigs in China. There is even talk of bringing back the woolly mammoth.

Our special issue takes a comprehensive look at what this means for scientists as well as society at large.  

Design challenge: The controversy over gene-editing in humans has loomed large, but most of the CRISPR work to date has been with plants and animals. We wanted a visual to reflect this reality in our cover design. 

CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly-Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat - and while it may not be a household word now, it will be soon. We decided to embrace the acronym in our cover design, using relevant plants and animals in the form of the letters. The micropig makes an appearance, along with wheat and tomatoes, and the honeybee that researchers are hoping to make disease resistant. The P is a woolly mammoth, waiting in the wings, and the R is meant to symbolise the editing process, showing bits of RNA.

The cover was created by amazing 3D artist Chris Labrooy. He took our brief and gave it richness and a distinct personality, bringing the menagerie to life. The colour palette is intentionally dynamic and not entirely natural. Welcome to the age of gene editing.

THE QUANTUM SOURCE OF SPACE TIME

Background. We recently published a news story on how quantum entanglement can be used to bridge the theoretical gap between quantum mechanics and general relativity, based on the the work of Mark Van Raamsdonk, and his attempts to get the wider physics community to take these theories seriously.

Design Challenge. We felt a graphic was needed to help the reader visualise the complex theory behind the story. After discussion with the editor we decided to tackle the graphic in three parts, with each part explaining the three main theories in the story. (For all three parts, see sketches, second image above.)

Part 1. The first part was to give a visual grounding, a starting point from which a connection could be make between the idea of the universe of general relativity (containing gravity) and the abstract theories of quantum mechanics. To do this we needed to show the similarities between two diagrams: a hyperbolic tesselation diagram (showing how space distorts as it stretches out towards its infinite boudary) and a tensor network, which visualises the quantum entanglement connections between particles in a large system. We also added a basic explanation of quantum entanglement, based on this sketch by the editor.

Part 2. For the next part of the graphic we wanted to explain how the theory of entanglement is linked to space time, using the ideas introduced in the first part of the graphic, based on sketches made by Van Raamsdonk.

Part 3. In the final part of the graphic we would develop the previous concept further by showing the link between wormholes (connections through space time that link black holes) and quantum entanglement. To do this we would use a standard diagram of a wormhole, and link this to the earlier depiction of quantum entanglement.

Visualising theoretical physics. As ever with graphics about theoretical physics the challenges are numerous. First, visualising things that due to their scale, have no form. Next, getting the balance right between simplicity and correctness  – how can we represent the elements in a basic way but still be essentially correct in what we are showing? And finally, having a narrative that runs through the graphic that isn’t confusing, and gives the reader a sense of having a basic understanding of a wider, more complex subject.

To do all of these things, it is important to have a strong understanding of the theory, and this involves digesting some mind-bending concepts!

Final graphic. In the final graphic, I decided to overlay the tessellation diagram and the tensor network diagram, to really emphasise the link between the two.

I simplified the entanglement diagram as much as possible so that as little space was taken up explaining this as possible.

For the next part, I duplicated the tensor network diagram to represent the quantum entanglement connecting two points in space. And in the final part I used the same icons to show entanglement as in the earlier explainer, to try to round of the explanation with this link.

I also decided on pulling out what to me were the most important points from the text using larger, bold font, so that these points weren’t lost in the complexity of the overall graphic, and so that the reader felt they were coming away understanding these key concepts.

A GRAPHIC EXPLANATION: 25 YEARS OF CLIMATE TALKS

Background: More than 190 nations are gathering in Paris on 30 November to broker an agreement to mitigate climate change. A previous attempt to shape a global agreement fell apart in 2009 in Copenhagen. Now the world is ready to try again, and for the first time, all countries are poised to take action. But the history here is sobering: the quest to build a global climate treaty has hit many obstacles over the past 25 years.

Design challenge: As part of our coverage, we thought a history of climate negotiations would be essential reading. But who wants to curl up with a rather complex and frequently frustrating recap of the last 25 years? (I don’t know about you, but this topic tends to launch me into an existential crisis.)

But when editor Rich Monastersky pitched the idea of telling the story in a graphic novel style, we all agreed that would be a fantastic way of visualizing climate history in a distinct way, and would allow for people, events and data to meaningfully intertwine.

The full climate comic can be found here (with a high res PDF here).

The first step was choosing an artist. After seeing Nick Sousanis’s amazing Unflattening - a doctorial dissertation in comic form that explores the idea of visual thinking – we thought that he would be a perfect fit for the project. In my view, the scope, complexity and profoundness of the topic required a unique way of working with images and metaphor. To our delight Nick agreed, and we set a target of an 8-page story, to be created jointly by himself and Rich.

Co-creation. A key challenge for this project was the process of co-creation, the blending of words and images by two creators with equal input to create a single narrative. Do words drive our thinking and framing of reality, or images? Which comes first? Nick and Rich tell their stories:

This from Nick…

“Words and pictures convey meaning in distinct ways. And I think for me, the comics that work best are the ones where the relationship between the two is part of the makeup of the work from the very beginning. We don’t start with words and then illustrate with pictures, the two do a dance together as we try to get a handle on the idea – allowing each to do its part and inform the other in service to that.

Each page is designed with a consideration for the whole – how do all the parts fit together to make it a cohesive unit. Unlike working in text, where adding, moving, or cutting a paragraph can be done fairly easily, in comics this pulls apart the structure of the composition. It can be done, but all the parts then end up being affected and rethought to pull it back into balance. The quantity of text in comics is a challenge, as usually it works best in small chunks that move through the page. A single large block of it may be too heavy – not only leaving no space for images but also rendering itself unreadable due to its density (even if it’s actually quite short by the standards of a paragraph of prose).

One funny thing, I’d come up with a sequence of numerous mundane actions each of us does that contribute to pumping carbon into the atmosphere. And I’d included some text with it along the lines of “we all have a hand in it.” I knew what I had in mind and where I was going with it, but it wasn’t clear to anyone but me from my early rough sketches – so that line got axed. When I finally did the tighter images, Rich suggested that we should include something saying we all have a hand in it… I laughed. But I think this illustrates a key point. (See draft and final panel, above.) 

Rich and I had a pretty dynamic collaboration marked by numerous lengthy phone calls and many, many emails exchanged. I think that was all necessary and clearly helped to make it a stronger work and have a better understanding of what we were trying to get across as we went. But those interactions all took place with words – spoken or typed, and I believe had we had an opportunity to engage with one another in person and talk with images, something different might have emerged and we might have gotten to places we arrived at later much sooner. Being able to work visually together, allows us to really keep those two perspectives talking to one another – and realize where the images can do most of the heavy lifting and where the words need to pick it up and fill the gaps.”

And this from Rich…

“In the summer of 2014, I started thinking about the Paris climate summit and how we might tell the story of the negotiations over the past quarter century. I had started my career in journalism in 1986 and so had seen both the treaty process and climate science evolve over that time. It struck me that a standard story wouldn’t adequately capture the slow but important action over the long span. At Nature, we are continuously experimenting with different ways of presenting stories and I wondered if a graphic-novel type approach might be the most natural way to tell this one.

Part of that meant going back to my ancient basement files. I had long ago purged most of my early paper records but had kept a few, including hand-written interview notes with NASA climate scientist James Hansen from the week in 1988 when he gave his famous Senate testimony. I also had a copy of the written statement he presented, which included a graph of global temperatures over the century.

I was thinking of a standard comic-style story that would portray the events in chronological order, peppered with details about advances in climate science. Nick Sousanis came on board as the artist this summer and brought his own style to the project. Nick excels at creating visual metaphors that operate on many levels and he came up with the idea of a framework motif that would run throughout the piece.

I did some interviews with people who had been involved in the negotiations from the outset and did a huge amount of background reading. Nexis was my best friend for a few months. I sent Nick a 12-page outline filled with events, pictures, quotes, people, graphs, and other ideas. That document ballooned as we added more ideas and Nick started to map out how we might distill a book-length project into 8 pages.

From there, the collaboration continued through email and a series of epic phone calls, including one 3-plus-hour session on a Saturday that must be the longest call I’ve made in decades, if not ever. We bounced ideas off each other for how to present the material in a compelling way and kept tweaking the concepts until the last minute before closing the story. Along the way, we received some invaluable feedback from Nature reporters, editors, and designers. All that adds up to a 9-page story that I don’t think either Nick or I could have envisioned at the very start.”

MODELING GROWTH - TWO POSSIBLE FUTURES

Background: For a developed nation to move to a sustainable society requires simultaneous rebalancing of economics, energy, agriculture and behaviour. Most agree that there is a need to maintain a sound economy while protecting the environment for future generations – but how?

This week we published a paper that shows how we can have it all. Steve Hadtfield-Dodds and team use a breakthrough multimodel framework to assess the ability to achieve growth and sustainability within a single-nation continent, Australia. Looking at climate, water, food, energy and biodiversity, they show that economic improvement is possible without ecological deterioration, but that specific political and economic choices need to be made to achieve this.

Design challenge: How does one predict the future? Mathematical modeling. What does that look like? A bunch of tables and graphs. The summary figure from the paper (last image, above) is a line graph that maps 20 different scenarios—some with increased fossil fuel consumption, some with less, for example; or some with more or less biodiversity.

For the cover, we decided to bring the graphs to life. My initial thought was to show a physical Australian landscape in a glass display box – to visually cue the idea of a ‘modeling’, with a few different scenarios from the paper visualized in one box. I gave this brief to expert scientific illustrator Emily Cooper, who took it from there. You can see her interpretation of my initial idea as a sketch in draft 1. We showed this to Steve, the author, who quite rightly pointed out that this approach could be misleading – instead, why don’t we put each model into a separate box?

Emily created some more sketches (above) that do an excellent job of visualizing the idea of models. But to really show the details within the models, we ended up zooming in and focusing on two scenarios from the paper. That decided, Emily and Steve worked together to choose the two scenarios and illustrate them using exact details from each scenario in the paper, such as transport patterns and biodiversity schemes. Emily then polished it off with handwritten labels, and placing them on axes in a graph-like landscape that references the paper’s summary figure.

It’s a stunningly clear visualisation of two futures - ours to choose.