One of the most common errors in molecular biology is the infamous Left-Handed DNA.

In most living organisms, the DNA is a right-handed spiral (similar to the way most screw threads are right-handed). However, the molecule is frequently illustrated backwards with a left-handed spiral. The mistake is so common that there’s a whole web page devoted to it - The Left-Handed DNA Hall of Fame:

http://www-lmmb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/LeftHanded.DNA.html

To be fair, some of these mistakes are probably introduced by art directors or designers who flip the image for aesthetic reasons without realizing that they are messing with mother nature.

Jim



on 2/13/11 6:44 PM, Diana Marques at [log in to unmask] wrote:

Dear All,

I'm working on a presentation (to be given this friday) where I want to highlight the importance of being well science informed to do a science illustration, so I am trying to gather examples of illustrations with mistakes; not necessarily mistakes that are obvious to anyone but for example images that I could say "this bird would never fly because it's missing feathers", "it's impossible the ankle would bend that way", "this dinosaur would never have a bump there", "the leaves in that species are arranged in a spiral and not bilaterally", "that molecule doesn't exist", etc.

I wonder if you know some of such examples (I'm reachable on or off list). I have a couple of images already but would love to make them as diverse and numerous as possible. The presentation will be mostly for an art background audience and I want to make a very convincing point.
Thank you so much,
Diana

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