Tabletop Whale is an original science illustration blog

Tabletop Whale is Eleanor Lutz’s science illustration and data-visualization blog, featuring infographics, maps, animations, and occasional open-source tutorials. The material shown highlights work that makes scientific subjects visually accessible, from medical equipment to planetary geology. During the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, Lutz collaborated with anesthesiology resident Sarah Low and the CoVent-19 team to explain basic ventilator systems for engineers seeking ways to address equipment shortages. The diagrams cover how oxygen passes through lung alveoli and contrast a simple open circuit, which expels waste gas, with a modern closed circuit that filters carbon dioxide and uses a controlled valve to release excess pressure. The graphics were released into the public domain, with the explicit limitation that they illustrate simplified circuits rather than provide a comprehensive guide to ventilators.

Two projects in the Atlas of Space series map the Moon’s terrain and geology. The topographic map shows the near side alongside views of the poles, far side, and interior, and notes the Moon’s synchronous rotation, which keeps the same hemisphere facing Earth. The geologic map combines six datasets whose categories and formats differ. To make them coherent, Lutz merged similar labels, omitted uncertain and inconsistent age information, and used color to distinguish formations rather than geological periods. The result is presented as a readable overview, not a precise reproduction of the underlying data. The projects draw on NASA, USGS, and other open planetary datasets, and include code tutorials and acknowledgments of expert advice.