“Usually, we shrink images to fit on a postage stamp. In this case, we have enlarged the images to postage-stamp size—that doesn’t happen often,” said Luke Grossmann, senior vice president of finance and strategy for the Postal Service.

These stamps are gorgeous! But they are not works of art per se; they were created for science. But by incorporating aesthetic appeal into the ways they present their research, the scientists behind these stamps have created images equally suited for a gallery wall as for a scientific journal.

The images taken of parts of the natural world that is so small that we cannot perceive it with our eyes alone. Microscopes and specialised photographic techniques are used to capture details of red blood cells, the feather of a macaw, a knotted strand of human hair, moss leaves, diatom shells, freshwater protozoans, an acorn barnacle, a moth’s antenna, the front foot of a diving beetle, neurons from a mouse’s brain, bone tissue from a starling, scales on the wing of a Madagascan sunset moth, a juvenile zebrafish, mushroom gills, the tongue of a freshwater snail, a blue button (similar to a jellyfish), mould spores, the legs of a barnacle, flame lily pollen, and the surface of a southern live oak leaf.

These "The Life Magnified" stamps are issued in panes of 20. Learn more at the USPS site.

I’ve managed to find them on eBay where the seller can ship to the UK for a reasonable price, though I must wait a month to receive them here in London!

1.
Medical illustration is a rather niche field, with an estimated 2,000 trained practitioners worldwide.

2.
The majority of medical illustrators in the profession have a master's degree from an accredited two-year graduate program in medical illustration, of which there are only four in North America.

3.
The first school of medical illustration was formed in 1911 at Johns Hopkins University.

4.
Some medical illustrators are authors and co-authors of textbooks or articles in which they've made major contributions to the content.

5.
In the past, the majority of medical illustrations were produced for professional use, whereas now there is a growing need for illustrations aimed at the lay public, in order for them to understand the state of their health and medical options.

6.
Attorneys use medical illustration to clarify complex medical information for judges and juries in personal injury and medical malpractice cases.

7.
Medical illustration created for instruction (surgery, anatomy, obstetrics and medicinal plants) first appeared in Hellenic Alexandria during the 4th century BC or early 3rd century BC on individual sheets of papyrus.

8.
Leonardo da Vinci pursued his own anatomy book, and pioneered the use of cross sections and exploded views.

9.
De humani corporis fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) of 1543 is probably the most well known book of anatomy. It profoundly changed medical training, anatomical knowledge, and artistic representations of the body, an influence that has persisted over the centuries.

10.
Here at MOTHandRUST, we do create scientific illustrations (seen above) and we can work with specific medical illustrators when required.

As someone who runs a design studio, it is not uncommon to hold a design degree. However, I do have a neuroscience degree as well, and when people find this out, they always ask, “why?”

We've always been interested in artificial intelligence here at MOTHandRUST. We've posted about AI exhibitions we've been to. When the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines based at MIT asked us to partner with them for a rebrand, we were thrilled (a crop of an early presentation seen above).