For October, we explained the concept and meaning behind the image on our October issue cover. Continuing with this new feature on the blog, here is a little background about the image for November.

This month’s concept is somewhat more obvious. The cover shows a stylized map of Sardinia based on a map from 1550 drawn by the Sardinian scholar, theologian, jurist and geographer Sigismund Arquer. And this month’s issue features 3 research papers, and editorial and a News and Views article about the genetics of Sardinians.

The artistic concept behind the cover image came from Dr. Giangiorgio Crisponi, a geneticist and artist, who also happens to be Sardinian. Dr. Crisponi, among other work, described a pediatric disorder in 1996 known now as Crisponi syndrome. He is also an excellent photographer, and examples of his work can be found here. With assistance from Michele Marongiu, Dr. Crisponi modified a photograph of his own copy of the 1550 map of Sardinia. He had the idea (implemented by our own in-house graphic designer) to expand the cartouche into a stylized DNA molecule. Our designer also added the nice touch of presenting the cover features on a piece of “parchment” to fit the overall design.

For an overview of the Sardinia genetics papers, see the News and Views by Guillaume Lettre & Joel Hirschhorn here.