The words 'sublimely beautiful' and 'Euston Road' seldom decorate the same sentence, but here goes...
Walk past the Wellcome Trust's HQ on Euston Road for this sublimely beautiful window display, and learn some science at the same time.
The eyecatching fluorescent baubels, by designers Graphic Thought Facility, represent the structures of several proteins implicated in human disease. The rogues' gallery includes: leptin, a small protein that can cause obesity if it gets mangled; PPWD1, a moleculae found in the protozoa that cause maleria; and Human Capping Enzyme 1, whose sinister sounding name does not belie its role in promoting HIV infection. More information can be found on the plaques that accompany the sculptures.
When you think about it, Euston Road is turning into something of an unlikely art gallery. Off the top of our head:
1. The multistorey Bliegiessen sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick, also at the Wellcome Trust.
2. The Newton statue in the court of the British Library by Eduardo Paolozzi.
3. Another Paolozzi original.
4. Two Anthony Gormley sculptures.
5. A bunch of caryatids.
Maybe it's not such a grim place after all.
