Every picture tells a story

Larry Gonick pioneered a blend of art and science to communicate abstract scientific concepts in cartoon form. As a science teacher trying to make Mendel's peas palatable for 15 year olds, I drew inspiration from the pages of Gonick’s 1981 collaboration with biochemist Mark Wheelis, The Cartoon Guide to Genetics.

Larry was a participant (alongside my favourite chemistry writers Peter Atkins and Roald Hoffman) in MIT’s Image and Meaning conference at which scientists and artists collaborated to explore the use of images to communicate scientific concepts.

Freelance science writer Phil Ball was there too and he ends his conference coverage for Nature.com with this Gonick gem, "Sometimes what one needs to understand a concept is a story."