When people find out that we specialize in science-based environmental testing, including indoor air quality assessments, mold testing and water quality tests, they automatically assume that we are all “left-brain” people, unlike artists, musicians and writers who are said to be guided by the  “right brain.”

In truth, however, science and creativity are often two sides of the same coin. Imagination and the ability to envision something new are essential to making any scientific breakthrough.

There are plenty of examples of scientists who also pursued artistic endeavors. Albert Einstein famously played the violin. Before inventing the single-wire telegraph, Samuel Morse studied painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and loved to create large-scale historical paintings. Queen’s legendary guitarist and songwriter, Brian May, is also an astrophysicist. And let’s not forget Leonardo da Vinci, who filled notebooks with his inventions and created great works of art that continue to speak to us.

Agar Art

One of the most interesting combinations of scientific study and artistic expression can be found in Alexander Fleming, who is credited with discovering penicillin’s life-saving properties. “In addition to working as a scientist, and well before his discovery of antibiotics, Fleming painted,” Smithsonian Magazine reports. “He was a member of the Chelsea Arts Club, where he created amateurish watercolors. Less well known is that he also painted in another medium, living organisms. Fleming painted ballerinas, houses, soldiers, mothers feeding children, stick figures fighting and other scenes using bacteria.”

Instead of buying paint, Fleming “grew” the colors he needed for his art. “He would fill a petri dish with agar, a gelatin-like substance, and then use a wire lab tool called a loop to inoculate sections of the plate with different species,” the magazine says. The work was technically demanding and its beauty fleeting. “These works existed only as long as it took one species to grow into the others.”

Fleming’s unique artform continues to be practiced. Every year, the American Society for Microbiology holds an Agar Art Contest. 

Despite all of that, you probably wouldn’t want to hear the technicians who work at our air quality company sing!

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At AirMD, an environmental testing company specializing in indoor air quality assessments, we pride ourselves on our science-backed approach. So, as Thanksgiving approaches, we were intrigued to find scientific research on gratitude.

What Is Gratitude?

Robert Emmons, who has been studying the effects of gratitude on physical health, psychological well-being and on our relationships with others, is perhaps the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is also the author of a number books, including Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Emmons argues that gratitude has two key components, which he describes in a Greater Good essay, “Why Gratitude Is Good.” “First,” he writes, “it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”

In the second part of gratitude, he explains, “we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”

The Benefits of Gratitude

Emmons and his colleagues have studied more than a thousand people of various ages and found that people who practice gratitude consistently (through the use of a gratitude journal or some other practice) report a host of benefits, including:

Physical Benefits

• Stronger immune systems
• Less bothered by aches and pains
• Lower blood pressure
• Exercise more and take better care of their health
• Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking

Psychological Benefits

• Higher levels of positive emotions
• More alert, alive, and awake
• More joy and pleasure
• More optimism and happiness

Social Benefits

• More helpful, generous, and compassionate
• More forgiving
• More outgoing
• Feel less lonely and isolated

If you put together AirMD’s scientific expertise in environmental testing and the benefits associated with gratitude, you could be on the way to your family’s most peaceful holiday gathering ever! If you would like to “clear the air” before everyone arrives, call us at 1-888-GO AIRMD (1-888-462-4763) and ask about having an indoor air test, home allergen test, mold assessment or any of the other environmental testing services our company provides.

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