Science is Art: Red White and… Cells?

Starfish to Stars

It’s all the same, just different

Recognizing congruency between dissimilar entities is what makes science art. From impressionism to cubism and beyond, how we interpret and relate everything that surrounds us to science is vital to understanding life. More importantly, it is vital to helping life. In doing that, we provide independence to live.

Supernova x sea stars = cells + flags
It’s all the same, just on a different scale.

Starfish

Starfish have rays, like arms of spiral galaxies, reaching out from a core region. They come in a lot of different colors, including red, tan and blue. The Blood Starfish, Yellow Mesh and Blue Sea Stars radiate colors like stained cells and have nerves running through their arms. Blood lives around Alaska, Baja and Mexico, while Yellow and Blue in the Pacific Ocean.

Supernova

A star explodes when its core collapses, forming a supernova. Telescopes, like Webb and Hubble, capture images of supernovae remnants by detecting rays (X and gamma). Wavelengths translate the colors we see like a specialized laser microscope reads fluorescence in cells.

Neurons

Cell protrusions reach out like starfish rays. In neurons, these are axons and dendrites. Lovely sea creatures like corals and anemones express fluorescence, but it was originally extracted from jellyfish. Lab nerds all over the world use fluorescence and dyes to track substances and events in cells. Blue can detect if a cell is dead by staining DNA.

US Flag

Like Blood and Blue Sea starfish, stars on Old Glory are 5-pointed. They are ideograms of states that comprise the United States of America. Purity and innocence are symbolized with white. As a whole, it embodies freedom.

Bottom Line:

Fireworks is a historic representation of the 4th of July, but how we mesh together can be understood through the art form of science. Just take a closer look at the colors.

Red, White and Blue. (Clockwise) Blood, Blue, Yellow Mesh sea stars & starfish (Sea by Mark Laita), supernova near a black hole in the milky way (NASA), neuronal cell culture under confocal fluorescence (improvised for “artistic” interpretation) (AK), USA flag (AK).