Before he ever touches a brush, Dunn mocks up his paintings in Photoshop, setting the composition and color scheme. Paintings, like a set of experiments, must be planned through in advance. "If the silhouette isn't great, that painting will never be great. You've got to build on a strong foundation," he says. "That's true of science as well."

The curled structure depicted here is the hippocampus, one of the most-studied parts of the brain. It has an integral role in memory and spatial navigation. The famous patient HM, who'd had his hippocampus removed, was unable to form new memories.