Thanks Discover!

The picture your have of a brain in a transparent skull is similar to many others. It shares with them the common problem of scale:

The brain is too small.

The orbital surface of the frontal lobes should be just above the eyes (orbits). The frontal pole should be slightly behind the forehead. But the biggest problem is that the brainstem, and exit of the spinal cord, are way too high. The foramen magnum is, I think, much lower.

For some strange reason, all images like this have similar errors. The cover of the Society of Neurosciences publication, “Brain Facts’, has a similar error, and it’s worse.

This is being a bit picky. But there is a larger point. It is frequently difficult for scientists to communicate well with scientific illustrators. Perhaps as a result, one of the weakest aspects of science writing, especially popular science writing in books, are the illustrations. There are notable exceptions.

I teach a lot. I spend more time on figures than anything else. Although I’m only a so-so illustrator, I give a lot of thought to accuracy, clarity and expressing what I’m trying to show. Graphics are also important in presenting research, but that’s another topic. But I feel the importance of good images in presenting ideas is frequently overlooked.