Protein portraits 2018?

Where are all the splashy colors and odd- looking arrangements of atoms and molecules?

Fear not, intrepid viewers of the finest art available in the realm of nanometers and hydrated species. The year 2018 was the year of quill pens and ink pots should the need to clarify our year-to-year variations on our main theme be a point of interest to you. Rather than constructing works of three-dimensional elegance using varieties of materials such as pipe cleaners, styrofoam spheres and other assortments of materials from each artist’s household, we found ourselves this year preferring to dabble in the N-dimensional space of the writer’s imagination.

After brainstorming for many weeks like dinghies bobbing on an uncertain tide, we came to agree that we should produce a collective set of chapters that link themselves together much as the chains of protein molecules interact with one another on that battlefield as old as humanity and familiar to all, which is namely the abraded knee. How very often, we reflected, have we seen such injury incurred to some small child who has taken a fall from his or her wheeled toy, be it a tricyclic self-powered motoring vehicle, or a wheeled board on the back of which just moments previous they had sailed the sidewalks contentedly? How often have we watched as the child’s injury is attended to by some concerned and accompanying adult who uses careful touches of antiseptic treatments and adhering tapes and bandages? Such scenes are as common as seagulls on the shore. But then, we asked, how many times have we heard explained to us the events and activities that transpire in the deeply hidden yet internally active realms of the wound itself, which is populated by animated characters as fast-paced and elegant as any action cinema on the screens of theaters and digital devices? Our answer was Never! Or at least never until now that we have undertaken the task.

Our advice is therefore to pour yourself a large cup of beverage, choose a comfortable park bench far from distracting elements, and immerse yourself in an adventure that may make you wince, make you tear up on occasion, and — with no spoilage intended but rather encouragement — leave you with the feeling of being healed: