I present clearly, connect broadly, spark imagination and encourage enthusiasm for inquiry. I create visuals with analytical clarity and artistic dimensions. In 1999 I built the Genome Sciences Centre’s first computing systems, and later invented port knocking, and optimized keyboard layouts that spawned a Brazilian fashion line. I have an affinity for parody and tragedy. I love rabbit holes.

I created Circos (a community standard) and hive plots (a farewell to hairballs). I am triggered by slipshod visualizations of science and pie charts. My information graphics have appeared in the New York Times, Wired and on covers books and scientific journals such as Science, Nature, and PNAS. I am a co-author of the Nature Methods Points of Significance and Points of View columns. I contribute to Scientific American’s Graphic Science and teach how to design scientific figures and scientific posters.

My method is critique by redesign. I’ve made maps of nothings in the Universe, shot fashion photography, and found poems in spam. Every year I make Pi Day art, which can be graphics, words or music. I made a music video about infinity and higher dimensions, I love typography, and run Hitchmas.

I am a former owner of Alex, the world’s most popular rat.