The purpose of the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project is to create insights into the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci through application of rapidly advancing tools in biology and anthropology in close association with expertise from history and the arts. The new detective technologies span genetics and genealogy, microbiology, physical anthropology, chemistry, hydraulics, and visualization. A principal means for insight would be a genomic profile of Leonardo. The Project was conceived in 2014 by Brunetto Chiarelli, Cesare Marchetti, and Jesse Ausubel with crucial help from Henry de Lumley…and finally opens a public website.
Area of Research: The Scientific Enterprise
On Trump’s Higher Ed Compact
Jesse Ausubel and Bill Massy, who teamed to create the first (and only) video game of the American university, Virtual U., reunited to publish an Op-Ed in RealClear Education on A Video Game of the Trump Higher Ed Compact, Seriously. Maybe university leaders can learn something from builders and players of World of Warcraft and Fortnite. It’s time for a new generation of simulations in the spirit of Virtual U.
Short video by Jesse about Lounsbery Prize & France
On 15 October, on the occasion of the presentation of the French Academy of Sciences awards including the 2024 Richard Lounsbery Prize to Dr. Jean-Léon Maître (Institut Curie Paris), Jesse Ausubel, Chair of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, looked back on the history of scientific relations between the United States and France and the need to encourage and support young researchers. The 3-minute video is here.
Le 15 octobre dernier, à l’occasion de la remise des prix de l’Académie des sciences et du Prix Richard Lounsbery 2024, Jesse Ausubel, Chairman de la Fondation Richard Lounsbery, est revenu sur l’histoire des relations scientifiques entre les Etats-Unis et la France et la nécessité d’encourager et soutenir les jeunes chercheurs.
Jesse’s Afterword for book on genealogy of family of Leonardo
Later this year Pontecorboli Editions will publish in Italian a definitive history of the family of Leonardo Da Vinci from his forebears to the present day, a masterwork of scholarship by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato. An English edition should appear in 2025. We post Jesse Ausubel’s Afterword in both languages as well as the draft table of contents. The books should form a major legacy of the Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project.
St Andrews Prize for the Environment to Amazon forest protection
The St Andrews Prize for the Environment of the University of St Andrews recognizes and supports innovative and inspirational responses to environmental challenges. In 2023, Jesse Ausubel joined the jury, which awarded the $100,000 2023 prize to Alianza Ceibo for their Indigenous-led effort for protection of the Upper Amazon Rainforest.
Remembrance of marine biologist Vera Alexander
A stalwart member of the International Scientific Steering Committee of the Census of Marine Life, Vera Alexander passed away at the age of 90 in Fairbanks AK in May. The Arctic Research Consortium US earlier offered this informative tribute.
Jesse worked closely with Vera during the Census of Marine Life from 1999-2010 and offers this remembrance of The Many Contributions of Vera Alexander.
Guest investigator David Thaler co-authors paper with novel idea for biological diaries
Published Open Access in Frontiers in Epidemiology: The Coronavirus Calendar (CoronaCal): a simplifiedSARS-CoV-2 test system for sampling and retrospective analysis by Manija A. Kazmi, David S. Thaler, Karina C. Åberg, Jordan M. Mattheisen, Thomas Huber and Thomas P. Sakmar
The paper concludes that sampling saliva on simple paper provides a useful method to study the natural history and epidemiology of COVID-19 (and probably many other microbes). The “CoronaCal” collection and testing method is easy to implement, inexpensive, non-invasive and scalable. The approach can inform the historical and epidemiological understanding of infections in individuals and populations.
The idea for the paper arose from efforts in the Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project about stable preservation of genetic material on paper.
“Peak Human?” booklet by Ausubel-Curry posted
Based on Jesse’s Nierenberg Prize lecture, Jesse and Alan Curry, who led research on human performance enhancement for the Program for the Human Environment for several years, have created a compact version with about half the visual exhibits in the lecture. We retain the title “Peak Human? Thoughts on the Evolution of the Enhancement of Human Performance.” Thanks to Dale Langford for editorial assistance and the beautiful layout.
Interim Evaluation of International Quiet Ocean Experiment
Jesse co-authored this Interim Program Self-Evaluation of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment for the International Scientific Steering Committee meeting upcoming 26-27 April 2023.
Ramona Ausubel clones a novel woolly mammoth
Jesse’s niece, Ramona Ausubel, has published a novel, The Last Animal, about a woolly mammoth starting a modern life. A companion essay, Science and Fiction Are Experiments That Ask the Same Question, interleaves some exchanges involving Ramona and Jesse.