Event 2: April 10 LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous)

This week I went to the LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) CNSI presentation. The event mainly focused on the relationship and connection between biology and history. 

To start with, the lecturer compared and contrasted two concepts by giving examples: biology of history and history of biology. One thing that plays a crucial role in connecting biology and history from ancient times to the present is gum. Gum has been used as binders and adhesives for mineral pigments in artworks since 2600 b.c. during the Fourth Dynasty of Egyptian (Granzotto et al. 44538). Modern chemical analytical technologies can be applied to identify and analyze the plant gum used in cultural heritages (Pitthard and Finch 317). 

Picture from the event 1: Emulsifiers, gums, clouding agents


Gum can be further applied to food, which is another field that plays an important role in the intersection of history and biology. Food has always been intertwined with human history as it is crucial for survival. It was related to community lifestyles, shaped our culture and even resulted to physical changes through evolution. Culinology is the displine that combines food science and culinary arts (Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos). From the bright side, throughout the development of culinology, food preservation methods have changed revolutionarily thanks to the technology advancement. However, the ways that food is processed developed and led to different results in people’s health conditions. As shown in the picture 2 below, the food is classified based on the extent of being process, which reflects how technology can influence our health negatively. This indicates technology’s involvement in the development of biology and history, connecting all the seemingly separate concepts. 


Picture from the event 2: NOVA Food classification


Work Cited:

“Combining Culinary Art with Food Science.” Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos, vol. 35, no. 1, 2021, pp. 36–39, https://doi.org/10.1002/fsat.3501_10.x.

Granzotto, Clara, et al. “Plant Gum Identification in Historic Artworks.” Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 44538–44538, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44538.

Pitthard, and P. Finch. “GC-MS Analysis of Monosaccharide Mixtures as Their Diethyldithioacetal Derivatives: Application to Plant Gums Used in Art Works.” Chromatographia, vol. 53, no. S1, 2001, pp. S317–21, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02490349.


Proof of Attendance:



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