Need a break from slogging through revision requests on your latest paper? Are lab results making you want to bang your head against a wall? Going in circles trying to fund your research?
If so, you need the latest science art challenge making its way around Twitter: #MSPaintYourScience.
This Internet trend challenges scientists of all disciplines to sketch the topic of their current research project using whatever basic drawing software, like Microsoft Paint, is installed on their computer. There’s a catch, though: The picture must be drawn with the scientist’s nondominant hand.
The trend started with one aquatic geologist taking a lighthearted break from writing to draw a picture of a garfish:
To answer your question, no it’s not easy for a left-handed person to draw a gar in MS Paint (using a mouse).
But it was a nice break from writing! #sciart pic.twitter.com/mGHqnBdGUl— Dr. Solomon David (@SolomonRDavid) July 31, 2018
That one fish sparked a wave of scientists procrastinating on their research to create more science art.
And there have been dozens of submissions so far, from the exceedingly beautiful (presumably made by artistic and ambidextrous people) to cute pictures reminiscent of when your kindergarten teacher looked at your drawings and said, “That’s very imaginative. Can you tell me about it?”
We’ll let you judge. Check out these creative Earth and space science computer drawings..
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Excellent Attention to Microdetails. “Shear” Artistic Beauty!
Wait, I made it better! (well, more fully encompassing at least)
Microstructure of glaciers AND shear zones. #MSPaintYourScience pic.twitter.com/420ZGZwJSZ— Stephanie Mills (@MicroEarthSci) August 2, 2018
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Minerals Sold Separately
A fun time down in the mines! (Wulfenite not included)#MSPaintYourScience pic.twitter.com/q94I0dg8Oe
— Daveedo ⛏ (@daveedoburrito) August 3, 2018
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Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah! Stayin’ Alive…in Space!
So #MSPaintYourScience is brilliant. Here’s my #exobiology contribution @esa #space #biology pic.twitter.com/dAyse5xLa7
— Nicol Caplin (@NCaplin_PhD) August 2, 2018
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Healthy Wetlands Make for Happy Fish
#GreatLakes coastal wetlands provide a critically important habitat for fish like yellow perch – all that food and refuge really puts a smile on their face! #GreatLakesSci #MSPaintYourScience pic.twitter.com/6asHmoF4u2
— Katherine O’Reilly (@DrKatfish) August 1, 2018
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“No, No, Arctic Melt,” Says Australia. “You Stay Up There.”
#MSPaintYourScience They say you either have a more science-minded brain or a more creative brain. I totally disagree… pic.twitter.com/KqHSKi7kl6
— Sophie Williams (@sophielwill_) August 2, 2018
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Coming Soon to a Science Journal Near You
I tried. #MSPaintYourScience
Unofficial Fig. 7 for my recently accepted sediment reconstruction in the Okinawa Trough (https://t.co/HL538ZVkj0).
Advancing river mouths in glacials transport lots of mud out to sea and make it difficult to look for #dust from the #monsoon! pic.twitter.com/DUHXAv5XAj— Chloe Anderson (@chloerophyll_a) August 3, 2018
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This Foram Tickles Our Fancy
This is my submission to #MSPaintYourScience showing the process of picking #foraminifera shells with a paintbrush for paleoclimate reconstruction #forams #paleoceanography #sciart
I title this masterpiece: “tickling the swirly boiz”
feat. mad lad C. wuellerstorfi pic.twitter.com/YnpIMWYgpu— Katie Harazin (@_katiezin) August 2, 2018
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We See Shades of American Gothic Here
I’m studying water pollution from agriculture for my PhD! #MSpaintyourscience #phdlife pic.twitter.com/KsRw7V6Skr
— Charlotte Chivers (@cachivers) August 1, 2018
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Of Course the Sun Wears a Hat
Well, why not? #MSPaintYourScience pic.twitter.com/ThSyJiJG8A
— Andy Emery (@AndyDoggerBank) August 3, 2018
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We “C” What “U” Did There…
I study the effects of extraction on communities and how communities work with government agencies clean up the problem. #MSPaintYourScience (The true nerds will get the elemental joke.) #thisiswhatascientistlookslike #SocialSciences pic.twitter.com/8xMH2psbzL
— Kelley Christensen (@kjhchristensen) August 2, 2018
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You Get a Line, I Get a Pole…I Mean a Water Quality–Monitoring Sonde
Scene from a recent trip to the marsh in #Lousiana to deploy instruments and survey. #MSPaintYourScience #fieldwork #geology pic.twitter.com/AaHsjb6tce
— Diana R. Di Leonardo (@SwirlingSands) August 3, 2018
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Don’t Cross the (Solar Wind) Streams
I don’t know why I’m a science major when clearly I’m destined to be an art major #MSPaintYourScience pic.twitter.com/Dmy2E22t5q
— Tony Iampietro (@iamtony_97) August 3, 2018
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Even Federal Agencies Are Getting Their Paint On
We couldn’t choose just one part of our work to highlight, so we chose them all! All 33 programs across the country are doing really great science and helping their local communities #MSPaintYourScience https://t.co/hIa6YYYtVd pic.twitter.com/LMuBgSmeRx
— NOAA Sea Grant (@SeaGrant) August 1, 2018
Do you have exciting science to share? Open up your computer’s paint program and sketch away! Don’t worry. Your research can wait.
—Kimberly M. S. Cartier (@AstroKimCartier), Staff Writer
Citation:
Cartier, K. M. S. (2018), Explore your inner child by painting science with pixels, Eos, 99, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EO104199. Published on 10 August 2018.
Text © 2018. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.