Universal pictures: A lithophane codex helps teenagers with blindness visualize nanoscopic systems

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj8099
• Publication Date: 2024-01-10T18:59:55Z
• Authors: Emily A. Alonzo; Travis J. Lato; Mayte Gonzalez; Trevor L. Olson; Quentin R. Savage; Levi N. Garza; Morgan T. Green; Jordan C. Koone; Noah E. Cook; Chad M. Dashnaw; Darren B. Armstrong; John L. Wood; Lisa S. Garbrecht; Madeline L. Haynes; Miriam R. Jacobson; Matthew J. Guberm...; Mona S. Minkara; Hoby B. Wedler; Bernd Zechmann; Bryan F. Shaw
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Adolescent; Humans; Chitin; Electrons; Biomedicine and Life Sciences; Blindness; Laboratories; Cytoskeleton

People with blindness have limited access to the high-resolution graphical data and imagery of science. Here, a lithophane codex is reported. Its pages display tactile and optical readouts for universal visualization of data by persons with or without eyesight. Prototype codices illustrated microscopy of butterfly chitin—from N -acetylglucosamine monomer to fibril, scale, and whole insect—and were given to high schoolers from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Lithophane graphics of Fischer-Spier esterification reactions and electron micrographs of biological cells were also 3D-printed, along with x-ray structures of proteins (as millimeter-scale 3D models). Students with blindness could visualize (describe, recall, distinguish) these systems—for the first time—at the same resolution as sighted peers (average accuracy = 88%). Tactile visualization occurred alongside laboratory training, synthesis, and mentoring by chemists with blindness, resulting in increased student interest and sense of belonging in science.