Scientists and artists are both are driven by curiosity and creativity. Curiosity causes both scientists and artists to try and understand and represent the world around them. To answer questions such as “what do we not understand?”, we need creativity. And what we create can help us to better see the world around us. Whether posters, paintings, talks, plays, or papers, both artists and scientists create esthetic products that help us and others to better understand the world [1]. Moreover, both art and science draw on a common toolbox of cognitive approaches [2]. Art is not merely a useful technique for observing and articulating empirical processes, but a creative approach that expands the limits of discovery [3]. By using creative media such as dance, textiles, painting, and sculpture, we can explore scientific questions and communicate our hypotheses and findings in novel ways.

Scientific discovery is an incremental process, but some of the greatest scientific innovations have come from transdisciplinary thinkers that integrate the sciences and the arts. For example, obsidian (ītztli in Nahuatl) tools have been used in ancient and modern Mesoamerican art and surgical scalpels [4], classic Japanese illustrated monographs (Honzou Gaku) are some of the earliest records of biodiversity [5], and Mae Jemison’s dance background supported her work as an astronaut [6]. Despite these fundamental similarities, art and science are often seen as two cultures [7]. Yet, a dualistic conception of art and science ignores the many scientific advances that arise from synergy between researchers’ artistic and creative endeavors. To address the greatest challenges today, we must inspire and reward work that transcends disciplines.

As both scientists and artists (S1 Text), we believe that expanding practices considered to be science and reframing art as a central dimension of scientific work may yield insightful discoveries and broadly impactful work. In this Community Page, we provide suggestions for how individual researchers can incorporate art into their scientific practices, both artists and scientists can see the commonalities in their approaches, as well as institutional actions academics can take to support art–science collaborations (Fig 1).

Read the full article about science-art collaboration by Callie R. Chappell and Louis J. Muglia at PLOS Biology.