Cosmos, who is no doubt a victim of nominative determinism, wants to redefine STEM as the alliance of science, theosophy, engineering, and myth. Digital tapestries with the look of 1980s popular science magazines illustrate the aesthetic connections between the research of life and life itself. Whimsically but also mechanistically, the works line up the atom, the DNA helix, and the microscope against the shapes of the planets, plant seeds, and the winding serpent of Asclepius.

These images could become moderately successful memes. The earth is a viral molecule on one tapestry, and biotech brings a new dawn on another. Both science and myth take turns as the butt of Cosmos’ clipart jokes.

Unfortunately, this study remains largely decorative because the works make too much of coincidence and not enough of the image. Their epistemic basis, that everything looks like everything else, is intuitive but insufficient. These diagrams, therefore, could be at home on an “in this house we believe” yard sign and an anti-vaxxer’s rally with equal ease. The artist would likely endorse neither.