There was a time when scientific journals reveled in an “all substance, no style” approach, sure that their readers were too high-minded to be sucked in by a glossy look anyway. But no more: “The realities of competing for limited readership have caused editors to employ a little pizazz to stand out on the shelf. That means paintings, photos and, most popular, microscopic illustrations (if medical journals were tabloids, the DNA double helix would be J.Lo). Inside, poems and first-person essays often break up the pages of dauntingly technical and data-laden articles.”