A picture is worth 1,000 words.

And this is why images are so useful in science communication. The right image only needs to be presented to relay a scientific thought, an important piece of data, or imbibe a lecture hall with a sense of drama or aesthetic. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has opened new possibilities toward making images that capture multiple concepts and perhaps the best team doing this is Midjourney.

Below, I explore some of the prompts and resulting variants that I have found especially compelling for my work with rodents, namely, wild red squirrels. In addition, I explore overlapping concepts like neuroscience and physiology.

Red Squirrels

Animals in Space

Animals Sleeping and Nesting

Neuroscience & Physiology

Notes

The biggest challenge has been finding the correct prompts and variation that are anatomically correct or species-specific. For example, the difference between a North American red squirrel and Eurasian red squirrel—Midjourney really likes to put tufts on red squirrel ears: I don’t know if this is because there are more photos of Eurasian red squirrels or if it’s simply a more magical look that the AI has been trained toward.

*you may use any of these images