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Everywhere we go, we leave little traces of ourselves behind. The strand of hair, the wad of gum, the cigarette butt, nail clipping, or puddle of spittle. And all of these negligible bits and pieces that we so casually or unknowingly discard, contain our genetic information.

Doctoral student Heather Dewey-Hagborg, who is completing her degree in electronic art at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, wanted to find out just how much of ourselves we are potentially revealing through this personal debris. So she began collecting these nasty little leave-behinds, and found that, “the more I walked around the city, the more I saw these genetic artifacts everywhere I looked.”
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In 1998, Virginia artist Athalyn Rose found a large (9 X 15 foot) piece of muslin cloth. Gradually, Biblical images began to appear on it.

The images were not painted on either side of this gigantic cloth, but are deeply embedded within the fibers of the cloth and can only be seen if the cloth is backlit. Otherwise, it looks black on both sides. This is reminiscent of the Shroud of Turin (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show).
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There have been some major art thefts from museums lately and when this happens, the public often thinks back to films like "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "How to Steal a Million," where sophisticated thieves rappel down through skylights to make off with incredibly valuable art. But the reality is not nearly so glamorous.

While the FBI calls the illicit trade of stolen art and antiquities serious, with losses as high as $6 billion a year, in the real world, these thieves are the same guys who rob armored cars for cash, pharmacies for drugs and homes for jewelry. They are often opportunistic and almost always shortsighted.
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When we view art, a complex series of activities go on in the brain, which help us to appreciate it. The aesthetic experience integrates sensory and emotional reactions in a manner linked with their personal relevance. BUT viewing art which we’re told is "fake" DOES NOT stimulate the same type of brain reactions.
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