Peking University, Feb. 26, 2019: Peking University Expert Pictures Urological Disease, a medical science book series, has won China's highest award in popular science publishing.

The cover picture of The Formation of Urinary Calculi shows how urinary stones are formed, illustrated by water in a large, kidney-shaped beaker, and food, medicine which can generate the stones are set aside as supporting elements

The series focuses on the prostate, urinary tract infections, and urinary stones. Series writer Dr Song Gang is a deputy chief physician and associate professor in the Department of Urology at Peking University First Hospital.

The book's nearly 200 pictures are not just simple illustrations, but delicate paintings reflecting the logic of medicine, devised by Dr Song and illustrated by an artist with whom he collaborated.

In Urine Circle Bacteria Wanted, male and female urethras are represented as two bridges to islands in the middle of a lake.

In Urine Circle Bacteria Wanted, male and female urethras are represented as two bridges to islands in the middle of a lake. The male bridge is thin and long, while the female bridge is wide and short

The male is thin and long, while the female bridge is wide and short, the illustration using a vivid Chinese style to help communicate scientific information – in this case the differences between the two sexes' urethras.

In recent years an increasing number of scientists and tech professionals have engaged the field of popular science, producing a diverse body of work.

Currently the biggest issue facing popular medical science is balancing in-depth scientific information with accessibility.

Academician Han Qide of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said, "Dr Song's series has made a breakthrough in this respect. He creatively unifies illustrations and paintings, the science and the art. Good science work should be easy for the masses to understand but have depth in its content, and Dr Song did that."

Edited by: Huang Weijian
Source: China Daily