In today's art, children's book illustrator Karen Barbour brings an unfamiliar quality to the page: ornament. The overall design of the Times has gotten ever sleeker in recent years. Their most recent typographic overhaul seems to have streamlined every letterform beyond the masthead and graphic elements like tool lines have grown minimal. More and more, the paper seems to rely on color photography and illustration for visual panache, while for better or worse the op-ed page remains a black-and-white preserve. This is what makes Barbour's style here so welcome: the tendrils of the plants, the snake's twitching tongue, all those exquisite, doodly details give the eye a reason to linger. Nonetheless, this illustration could have been a lot more topically apt. Oliver Morton's article highlights the need for a wider, more public discussion among biologists about the benefits and threats of the new synthetic biology. It seems odd that the picture shows a single person facing away from the temptation before him (as most of scientists Morton mentions are not doing), the beaker in his hand a bit of an afterthought.
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