The Winter 2023 issue of the Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences published “The Search for Leonardo’s Genome” by Jesse Ausubel. Based on Jesse’s June 2022 talk, this version omits the citations included in Jesse H. Ausubel, The Search for Leonardo’s Genome, Human Evolution 37 (3-4): 221-228, 2022.
Author: Amelie Walker-Yung
The Search for Leonardo’s Genome, Human Evolution
The journal Human Evolution has published Jesse Ausubel’s “The Search for Leonardo’s Genome,” an expanded, fully referenced version of a talk Jesse gave in June 2022 to a meeting of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Academy Bulletin will publish the colloquial version in its winter issue.
Jesse H. Ausubel, The Search for Leonardo’s Genome, Human Evolution 37 3-4: 221-228, 2022; DOI: 10.14673/HE2022341106
Discoveries of the Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project
Biologists in the Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project have shared a trio of fascinating, innovative papers.
Manolito G. Torralba, Claire Kuelbs, Kelvin Jens Moncera, and Karen E. Nelson of the J Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, California, and Rhonda Roby of the Alameda California County Sheriff’s Office Crime Laboratory, used small, dry polyester swabs to gently collect microbes from centuries-old, Renaissance-style art in a private collector’s home in Florence, Italy. Their findings are published open access in the journal Microbial Ecology, “Characterizing microbial signatures on sculptures and paintings of similar provenance.”
Concurrently available are a pair of papers by David Thaler, of the University of Basel and a guest investigator in the Program for the Human Environment. David’s papers are
Thaler’s papers form part of a collection now in press as a book: Actes du Colloque International d’Amboise: Leonardo de Vinci, Anatomiste. Pionnier de l’Anatomie comparée, de la Biomécanique, de la Bionique et de la Physiognomonie, edited by Henry de Lumley, CNRS editions, Paris.
Two major newswires, Agence France Presse and Agencia EFE, each did separate stories:
Manny Torralba et al.
AFP Microbes Could ‘help Save Old Masters’ And Catch Forgers
Agencia EFE Identificar microbios en obras de arte abre la puerta a una mejor preservación
David Thaler
AFP Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘quick eye’ may be key to Mona Lisa’s magnetism
German version Forscher: «Schnelles Auge» half da Vinci beim Zeichnen und Malen
Agencia EFE La rapidez visual “súper desarrollada” de Da Vinci podría explicar la sonrisa de la Mona Lisa
LiveScience, United States Did Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘quick eye’ help him capture Mona Lisa’s fleeting smile?
By Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project (summary)
Genetic detectives ID microbes suspected of slowly ruining humanity’s treasures
Leonardo DNA project chapter from Madrid exhibition catalogue
We post Leonardo DNA Project: Strategy, goals and aspirations. A bridge across science and art. This is the chapter from Leonardo da Vinci, The Faces of Genius, the superb 2019 book edited by Christian Galvez.
Preparing the October 2019 Amboise Colloquium
The ‘Institut de Paléontologie Humaine’ IPH, in collaboration with the Royal Castle of Amboise and nearby Clos Lucé Château, organized an international colloquium “Leonardo da Vinci, pioneer of comparative anatomy, biomechanics, bionics and physiognomy”. The two-day meeting took place on October 11 and 12 in Amboise, France, and was part of the many 2019 celebratory events ‘500 years of Renaissance in the Val-de- Loire’ on the 500th anniversary year of the death of Leonardo Da Vinci.