1 . Art is a powerful tool for telling a scientific story. Many scientific fields deal with the strangest of the animal kingdom — like creatures with a handful of eyes and bodies so different from our own. Art can help us experience these hard-to-imagine parts of the natural world and shed light on new scientific discoveries.
Alia Payne, an interactive arts professor came to the National Museum of Natural History to work with the live jellyfish collections. She always got the same question from visitors, “How do jellyfish stings work?” She had the scientific answer for them but found it difficult to explain without a clear visual. That’s when a lightbulb went off in Payne’s mind. She built a 3D model of one of the stinging cells that visitors could touch and interact with. “I’ve always loved art for education,” said Payne. “We learn more easily when we have something to play and interact with.”
While art helps society experience, it also helps scientists understand the natural world. Dr. Karen Osborn, a zoologist at the museum, specializes in the striking creatures of the ocean’s largest habitat—the midwater. Midwater creatures are equipped with all sorts of unique features to get them through life in their extreme habitat, and Osborn’s research helps us understand how these animals came to be. “So I started learning photography,” Osborn explained. “It was really important because these animals don’t look so great when they’re preserved in a jar in the museum’s collections.”
Artistic creativity provides an opportunity to show off the bright colors, attractive body plans and cool adaptations of these creatures to the museum’s scientists, visitors and the world. In turn, art connects scientists to their own creativity and aids in their scientific process and the communication of their discoveries. By weaving together science with imagination and storytelling, art helps highlight the beauty of the ocean’s creatures even those fit for horror movies — and connects people to their innate curiosity for the strangeness of the animal kingdom.
1. What can we know about art according to Paragraph 1?| A．It is a powerful tool with a scientific story. |
| B．It can help us get close to the natural world. |
| C．It can provide a new view for exploring science. |
| D．It has different eyes and bodies to experience nature. |
| A．To show off. | B．To get a job. |
| C．To persuade visitors to buy jellyfish. | D．To explain science in a simple way. |
| A．Because he is full of imagination. |
| B．Because he wants to improve his work. |
| C．Because he is attracted by the natural world. |
| D．Because he wants to help scientists understand nature. |
| A．It promotes their creativity. | B．It focuses on the scientific process. |
| C．It helps scientists experience society. | D．It provides an opportunity for the scientists. |
