University of Idaho (UI) artists and scientists collaborate in fascinating new science exhibition
Take a moment to consider aphids: tiny insects that mob roses, devour pea plants, feast on wheat.
Trillions of them — or more — live on Earth. Millions upon millions hatch on the Palouse farmlands surrounding the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus each year.
They belong to an interwoven ecosystem: Viruses use aphids as vessels to infect plants. Plants fight back with chemical defenses. Ladybugs and other insects hunt aphids. Humans plant crops, spread fertilizers and spray pesticides. The aphids eat, grow, reproduce, adapt, evolve.
UI entomologist Sanford Eigenbrode studies how the pieces fit together, and how humanity’s increasing understanding of aphids can help protect the crops that feed the world.
And now, through the University of Idaho's Visualizing Science exhibit, artists Sally Machlis and Delphine Keim have stepped into the system to share the remarkable complexity of aphids with people beyond the field and the lab.
They have created an exhibition titled “Abundant,” which is an artistic celebration of aphids and their place in the world — and in it have captured the sense of wonder Eigenbrode, as a scientist, feels for his subjects.
“Each individual in the swarm is itself awe-inspiring,” said Eigenbrode, a Distinguished Professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “Each one is really almost unfathomably beautiful and complex.”
The UI Visualizing Science Exhibit is currently being staged at the UI Prichard Art Gallery.
Source: http://www.uidaho.edu/news/news-articles/news-releases/2017-february/020717-visualizingscience
