The stakes for responsible, compelling science art have always been high (an illustrator better get the number of chambers in the heart right) but in recent years they have grown higher. Global environmental challenges require our research to move beyond journal pages and poster halls, while outside these venues (eg on Twitter) the noise-to-signal ratio has steepened. Every figure, whether a thoughtfully rendered close-up of mycorrhizal partners at root tips or a misleadingly binned histogram, now has the potentia…