An artistic language tree

On this blog we occasionally draw your attention to the overlap between the scientific world and the artistic world. The language tree shown below is from the Stand Still Stay Silent site, which describes itself as "a post apocalyptic webcomic with elements from Nordic mythology". The tree data apparently come from the Ethnologue language database.

The detail about the Nordic languages derives from the fact that the author, Minna Sundberg, is Finnish-Swedish, and the Scandinavian languages have next to nothing in common with the Finno-Ugric languages.

Posters and prints of the tree are available for purchase.

Network art

I have occasionally mentioned in this blog the fact that phylogenetic trees have made it into the world of art. However, until now I have not really been able to say the same for phylogenetic networks. I am happy to report that I can now do so.

These three watercolours are from the collection of Sandra Black Culliton, a microbial geneticist.

 At the time of writing the originals are still for sale at Etsy.

Alternatively, you can apparently ask her to produce one to order.