Art meets science in Mini Lisa's nanoworld

Was Leonardo Da Vinci the greatest scientist or artist of his time? Perhaps more well known for his artistic talents, his enigmatic painting of the Mona Lisa continues to puzzle generations of art enthusiasts many centuries later.

Now, thanks to a newly published study by PhD student Keith Carroll from Georgia Instiute of Technology, Da Vinci's artistic works can take a tiny place in the world of science. A very, very tiny place indeed....

The 'Mini Lisa' wins the record for the world's smallest replica of Da Vinci's famous painting. The technical terminology adds a layer of complexity that detracts from what simply is a work of art. Published in the journal Langmuir, "Fabricating nanoscale chemical gradients with thermochemical nanolithography" is a complex description of a technology that can perhaps be likened to the painting style pointillism. Whereas the latter refers to a painting created from tiny dots of individually applied paint, 'Mini Lisa's' 'paint' was applied using controlled chemical reactions to create varying shades of grey across 125 nanometer intervals.

The overall image stretches just 30 microns across---that's so small that it's probably not worth splitting hairs over. Let's just say that it's really rather small.

But perhaps in the science of art, size doesn't really matter all that much. In our new world of nanotechnology, perhaps sci-art is the genre of the future? I'm sure that Da Vinci, as an inventor and creator born before his time, would be more than a tiny bit pleased is he could see this painting.

[Image source: Georgia Tech Media Release] 

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Learned supervision

I'm worried that my new supervisor-student trial period will end with 'FAULTY GOODS, RETURN TO STORE'. Because there is no refund for the time I'm spending on this PhD.

Last week's lab meeting went something along these lines:

Brief description of my work to the group. I can see interest is low (this being a heart physiology meeting, and I'm the only neuroscience student), so I attempt a short and concise summary...

Sche-BANG! Can't get out of it that easily!

'Is that what we decided your experiments showed?' Laugh, laugh, cortle, look around at others for further laughs. (No one else cares, but this public humiliation must continue anyway.)

'This is difficult to explain to someone without a mathematics background.' Condescension, belittling, etc.

I attempt to hold in tears (mainly of anger and hatred) and pass them off as the sudden onset of the flu. Embarrassment, wishing for hole in ground. Time extends on forever into the distance.

Eventually the meeting ends. But the 'lesson' does not. Two supervisors approach my desk for further public conversation, as of course we only have open-plan offices.

I attempt some scientific questioning, to be told:

'That doesn't prove anything.' (Even though they haven't even looked at the paper in question). 'You need to learn these skills that will make you a scientist.'

'I can see you're getting flustered.' (So he went away and then came back for more.)

4 years stretching ahead...

I guess supervisors need to learn their supervisory skills also, and how these need to be applied to a particular student. This being a biophysics laboratory, I'm not sure that social awareness and communication are valued as they should be. Yes, I'm stereotyping. But I miss my old lab, where mistakes were minimised, results praised, and attempted scientific thought valued.

But in all fairness, I learnt a lot from this interaction:

Listen to your supervisor at the beginning, because they will know way more than you. Read up A LOT before you ask a question. Don't expect niceties from anyone. And if you think you have any cool ideas, keep them to yourself until you know what you're talking about!

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The Evil Scientist

All biomedical scientists seem to have their own justification for animal research.

'The good of science, humanity, medicine'.

'Furthering our understanding of the world.'

'Helping rid the world of disease and disability.' etc etc. blah blah.

Let me deviate for a second. I don't think I do research to help other people. Selfish? Yes. Let me re-phrase. I would love to change the world, but I don't believe that my research will help anyone else in my lifetime. Having worked in research for 5 or so years now, I understand exactly how little can actually get done whilst those all-too-short '10 years until a cancer cure!' promises fly by. I'd like to help others, but I don't expect that I can.

So why do I do it? Knowledge I believe. I'd like to know things. And even more than that, I'd like to know that I have contributed knowledge. If my knowledge ever helps anyone else, then that would just be a massive mound of icing on a rather small mini-cupcake.

My PhD project requires me to use animals. I can't use human brains after all, as that would obviously be unethical (and perhaps counterproductive?) But when we're talking about animals, there's more of a grey area about using a grey matter.

I have my own justifications for animal research and they sure don't include any of these worldly 'excuses' mentioned above. I'm taking another creatures life to allow me to conduct research that I don't expect will help anyone anytime soon. What does that say about me?

I visited Vietnam recently, a country where people think very differently about animal welfare than we do. I can't judge people who are fighting the depths of poverty that communism has forced them into, for lacking an understanding of animal welfare. Human suffering aside, I saw birds trapped in tiny cages above polluted streets,  an entire fried dog lying on a table in a cafe, hundreds of fish suffocating in badly aerated tanks outside seafood restaurants, beaten dogs chained to fences in the sun with no water, and roosters waiting to be lead to a fight to the death in the name of gambling.

My justifications for animal research surely aren't better than anyone else's, but at least be it known that thanks to our strict ethical system, your typical lab rat should not not suffer in the hands of death.

Sure, I'm an 'evil scientist', you can judge me all you like, but I care about the animals too.

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It's all a matter of relativity

Cities are made up of people.
People are made up of organs.
Organs are made up of cells.
Cells are little cities...

Look at a cell. Well you can't as it's such a tiny little thing that we can't see it with the naked eye. You'd think that something so small couldn't have anything going on inside it? Wrong.

So maybe it could contain a few proteins that mill about inside, keeping it functioning and what not. True but not accurate.

There are hundreds and thousands of proteins within the cell. So many that we don't even know how many.

I liken it to a city. There are millions of people in your average city. Even Auckland city, not the most famous for its metropolitan vibe contains at least 1.4 million people. the majority of who serve some kind of  productive purpose. Let's say I'm a PhD student (because I am). When I wake up in the morning, I'm relying on everyone else having done their jobs as electrical engineers (so I can have a hot shower), farmers (so I can drink my much needed cafe latte), and bus drivers (so that I can make it to the lab).

Inside the neuronal cell, a particular protein is responsible for receiving 'messages' from neighbouring cells. Just like me, that protein has to get to its place of work on the neuronal membrane every day. To do this it has to rely on other 'bus driver' proteins to shuttle it to its destination. When it arrives, it needs other support workers to help it carry out its journey. Even the 'roads' that the protein travels on throughout the day need to be paved by other 'roadworker' proteins. Every protein inside the cell serves a purpose, or at the very least has a place in the society of this 'little city'.

If I was a protein, I would feel just like I do now: a single member of this large city. But if I was a galaxy, maybe I could say the same. I would avoid black holes on my gazillion light-year revolving journey around the universe, as unbeknownst to me, tiny little nebulae inside me condensed into solar systems infinitely smaller than myself.

Cities make up continents.
Continents make up planets.
Planets made up solar systems.
Solar systems make up galaxies.
Galaxies make up the universe...

To me, it seems to be a matter of relativity.

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