Martin Rauchbauer, Djerassi Executive Director, describes a profound alchemy at the heart of the Leonardo at Djerassi residency: "We are excited to witness the magical synergy of the upcoming Leonardo@Djerassi session! Our international residents will explore the boundaries of art and science while immersed in a natural laboratory designed by the extraordinary beauty of our land. Their collaborative research and experimentation will depart from and transcend the focus areas of artificial intelligence, astronomy, painting, environmental art, music, critical art theory, poetry, digital art, and computer image analysis. We cannot wait to welcome this year's cohort and facilitate the synthesis of their different backgrounds and disciplines.”

Please enjoy this glimpse into the creative process experienced on our mountaintop retreat. Find the residents’ contemporaneous blogs and share them. I particularly hope those of you who educate young scientists and artists can use the participants’ experiences to break down the either/or of scientific and artistic disciplines. Let’s bend the rules of the academy to reward rather than pigeonhole big thinkers. Discoveries that change the world are often the work of the brave people working on the edges.