The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

ex scientia, sono

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anatomy

Scientific illustration of biomechanics of stacked human bodies, using acrobats making a human tower on a beach. They seem to lean forward in an unsustainable way. Numbers and angles on the image show how centers of gravity make this possible.

Science Art: Akrobati, Lokální těžiště a hmotnosti, 2016

14 December 2025 grant 0

Biomechanics, with acrobats. A photo illustration by Karel Frydrýšek.

The description, translated from Czech, reads: “Four acrobats, chosen coordinate system, local center… Read the rest “Science Art: Akrobati, Lokální těžiště a hmotnosti, 2016”

Scientific illustration of the human hand as a measuring instrument for the constellations of the zodiac, showing their order and corresponding planets and months in a circular chart almost like a hand of Fatima.

Science Art: ORDEN DE LOS SIGNOS DEL ZODIACO, 1614.

8 December 2025 grant 0

From Theatro del mvndo, y del tiempo, which I’ve mentioned here before but have accessed yonder, on archive.org.

This is a chart of the human hand used as a measuring instrument for… Read the rest “Science Art: ORDEN DE LOS SIGNOS DEL ZODIACO, 1614.”

Scientific illustration of the inside of a snake's eye - lens, cornea, retina in black and white.

Science Art: The Ophidian Eye in Vertical Section, 1942

10 November 2025 grant 0

When the snake sees, this is what the snake sees with. The snake in question is Natrix natrix, the barred grass snake. The image was “redrawn from Schwarz-Karsten, modified from original… Read the rest “Science Art: The Ophidian Eye in Vertical Section, 1942”

SONG: Hyperfocus

24 May 2025 grant 0

SONG: “Hyperfocus”. (OGG version here.)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Something in The Back of Your Eye Could Reveal Whether You Have ADHD,” Science Alert… Read the rest “SONG: Hyperfocus”

Our butts used to be sperm dispensers.

25 April 2025 grant 0

Science Alert reports on an evolutionary study that has found our butts (from which everybody, as the children’s book tells us, poops) were originally a little bit more risque. The… Read the rest “Our butts used to be sperm dispensers.”

Scientific illustration of a mudskipper emerging from the water and looking out in air, with diagrams of mudskipper eyeballs and eye positioning.

Science Art: Periophthalmus koelreuteri, 1942.

31 March 2025 grant 0

This is a mudskipper who is being drawn here solely for the qualities of its bulbous, beautiful eyes.

The illustration is from page 453 of The Vertebrate Eye and Its Adaptive Radiation by … Read the rest “Science Art: Periophthalmus koelreuteri, 1942.”

Scientific illustration of good posture versus slouching, with arrows pointing to various areas on the body.

Science Art: Illustrations of poor and good posture, 1943.

8 November 2024 grant 0

This is how the the US Navy tried to get recruits to stand tall during World War II, with anatomical studies of slouching. How do you know if you’re slouching? Well, here’s how,… Read the rest “Science Art: Illustrations of poor and good posture, 1943.”

Scientific illustration of the inner ear, including the cochlea, from Gray's Anatomy.

Science Art: Interior of right osseous labyrinth, from Gray’s Anatomy.

9 June 2024 grant 0

This is the listening part, the twisting bits of the inner ear. It really does look like a mollusk, doesn’t it? (“Cochlea” literally means “snail” in Greek.)… Read the rest “Science Art: Interior of right osseous labyrinth, from Gray’s Anatomy.”

Recording tinnitus as it happens – for art AND science.

9 June 2024 grant 0

Well, if a microphone can act as a speaker (which it can, and vice versa), then why can’t an ear act as a megaphone? It might fly in the face of expectations but The Quietus has an interview… Read the rest “Recording tinnitus as it happens – for art AND science.”

Scientific illustration of a human brain (or perhaps just a maze) as a very simplified informational icon in a 1960s visual style: brown background, black circle, a white bordered maze in brown forming a square inside the circle.

Science Art: Back Cover Detail, THE MIND, 1965.

22 April 2024 grant 0

I think this is a brain, but it might just be a maze. This is a small icon that appears on the lower left corner of the back cover of The Mind, from the LIFE Science Library published by Time-Life… Read the rest “Science Art: Back Cover Detail, THE MIND, 1965.”

Scientific Illustration of human forms using electronic displays, from the 1960s, based on drawings by industrial designer Walter Koch.

Science Art: Human Factors: Scanning Male and Standing Female, 1964.

14 April 2024 grant 0

This had to have been meant slightly tongue-in-cheek at the time… hadn’t it? Bespectacled man, meet Vitruvian lady.

The cartoon couple are from an ad in the October 1964 issue… Read the rest “Science Art: Human Factors: Scanning Male and Standing Female, 1964.”

Scientific illustration of an eye exam using an ophthalmoscope.

Science Art: Relative Position of Observer and Observed in Direct Ophthalmoscopy, Arthur W. Head, 1917.

10 March 2024 grant 0

You gotta get right up in there if you really want to see what’s going on in those eyes.

This is an illustration from a book about birds, oddly enough: The fundus oculi of birds, especially… Read the rest “Science Art: Relative Position of Observer and Observed in Direct Ophthalmoscopy, Arthur W. Head, 1917.”

Scientific Illustration depicting how eye-spots draw attention even in a confusing visual field.

Science Art: Diagram illustrating the inherent conspicuousness of an eye-spot…, Cott, 1942.

13 November 2023 grant 0

An illustration showing how noticeable an eye actually is, from the text The Vertebrate Eye and Its Adaptive Radiation, which looks at eyes, eyes everywhere, all kinds of eyes. The book … Read the rest “Science Art: Diagram illustrating the inherent conspicuousness of an eye-spot…, Cott, 1942.”

Scientific illustration of the arteries leading into the heart, one normal and one abnormal

Science Art: Schematic Drawing Showing (Left) Normal Origin and Distribution of the Coronary Arteries…, 1943.

31 October 2021 grant 0

This diagram came from an article called “Anomalous Origin of Left Coronary Artery” by John C. Ruddock, a Naval Reserve Medical Corps commander, and Charles C. Stehly, a US… Read the rest “Science Art: Schematic Drawing Showing (Left) Normal Origin and Distribution of the Coronary Arteries…, 1943.”

Scientific illustration of bones on the inside, from a CT scan.

Science Art: Dlx3 deletion in osteoblast progenitors induce increased trabecular bone formation, 2015.

12 September 2021 grant 0

This is a picture of bones, the mineral density of bones, giving us a hint of their interior structures.

From the NIH Image Gallery description:

This image shows micro computed tomograophy

… Read the rest “Science Art: Dlx3 deletion in osteoblast progenitors induce increased trabecular bone formation, 2015.”

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Something to Believe In

GRANT: something to believe in

You could write a review of this album here on iTunes.

That would be generous.

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Tags

acoustics aeronautics agronomy anatomy anthropology archaeology astronomy biochemistry biology botany chemistry climatology computer science ecology economics electrical engineering electronics engineering entomology epidemiology evolution genetics geology linguistics marine biology mathematics medicine meteorology microbiology microscopy nanotechnology neurology oceanography optics paleontology pharmacology physics psychology quantum physics research robotics sociology space exploration theremin zoology
RSS Help Wanted: ScienceCareers
  • Coriell Institute for Medical Research: Scientist - Repository
  • LSU Health New Orleans: PROFESSOR/ ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Columbia Univ: Postdoctoral Research Scientist
  • Washington University School of Medicine - Dept. Pathology & Immunology: Assistant Professor
  • St. Lawrence Univ: Visiting Assistant Professor - Anatomy and Physiology
  • University of Massachusetts Lowell: Open Rank Tenure Track Faculty Positions - Nuclear Engineering and Physics
Honorary Troubadours
  • Jonathan Coulton, Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science.
  • Laura Veirs, who knows her way around a polysyllable.
  • Thomas Dolby, godfather of scientific pop.
  • Squeaky, fact-based rock about fusion containment & rocket science.
  • Cosmos II, a.k.a. Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher.
  • Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, astrophysicist who makes music from cosmic radio sources.
  • Dr. Jim Webb, astronomy professor and acoustic guitarist.
  • Artichoke, the band behind 26 Scientists, Vols. I and II.
  • They Might Be Giants, unrelenting proponents of scientific popular song.
  • Symphonies of Science, the people who make Carl Sagan and others sing.
  • Giant Squid, doom metal about the sublime horrors of marine biology.
  • Gethan Dick,6 scientists, 6 musicians, 1 great album
Related Projects
  • Squid Pro Crow
  • Grant Bandcamp
  • Grant Soundcloud
  • Penitential Originals Playlist
https://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/01-gravity-song.mp3

 
"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

grant balfour made this website.

Member institution: Duct Tape Aesthetic Laboratories
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