Wednesday, December 18, 2019
More beautiful art in science
Article in Smithsonian on using ancient birch bark chewing gum to gather the entire genome and microbes and diet of the chewer.
The exact purpose of chewing is unknown, but birch bark contains salicylic acid, so it would have been medicinal and pleasant.
Artist Tom Björklund has created a masterpiece, showing the girl evoked by the DNA, along with the duck she has just killed and the hazelnuts she gathered. She seems to be saying This is my duck, for my family. If you want to take it, you've got a fight on your hands.
Magnificent.
Compare with the equally beautiful painting of a Denisovan type, which is more purely artistic and less contextual.
¶ 3:58 PM 
