Photo courtesy Robert C. Lautman

© Larry Kirkland
Keck Center Lobby (west wall)

(click here to return to Larry Kirkland Keck Center Lobby page)

Two themes dominate the black granite wall: biology and medicine in the service of society and our relationship to our environment.

One ongoing focus of medical research is malaria, represented by the parasite that is attacking a human cell in the large circle at the lower left

Spread by mosquitoes, this disease causes 300 million people each year to become ill and more than a million deaths, primarily in children. The malaria parasite continually evades new drugs by becoming resistant and is a major target for efforts to create a vaccine. The map of London (1854) represents the investigations of John Snow, known as the Father of Public Health, who discovered the source of a cholera epidemic to be contaminated water – delivered by a public pump marked here with a gold dot.

The large Atlantic salmon documents an endangered species at risk of extinction from overfishing and destruction of spawning grounds. The small Northwest Coast Native American drawing of a Pacific salmon suggests the complex issues relevant to this valuable fish. The transformation of its natural habitat by dams, farming, forestry practices and the co-mingling of farm-raised fish with native species

The tree branch is that of a pacific yew, a low growing evergreen whose habitat has been destroyed through the clear cutting of Douglas Fir forests. The yew is a natural source for taxol, which has proved beneficial in the treatment of some cancers. The short-term benefits brought by the practices that threaten the yew must be weighed against the benefit that might otherwise be reaped from lost species.

(click here to return to Larry Kirkland Keck Center Lobby page)

LOCATION:
Keck Center of the National Academies
500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC
Open to the Public: M – F, 8:30 – 6.