Behind the Cover: Summer 2025

A look inside the making of a plastic anatomy sculpture that reveals the hidden toll of microplastics on our bodies.

Cover of UCSF Magazine: top reads “UCSF Magazine, Summer 2025”. Text below reads: "The Plastic Within: What scientists are discovering about the plastic inside our bodies." Sculpture of the anatomical insides of a human body, made entirely out of pieces of colorful plastic.
Artwork: Aurora Robson / Photo: Marshall Coles

For this issue, UCSF Magazine turned to Aurora Robson, an artist known for transforming plastic waste into sculptural warnings and wonders. Her cover piece – a human torso assembled entirely from salvaged plastic – offers a striking commentary on the entanglement between our bodies and the environment.

Robson’s work doesn’t just resemble anatomy; it interrogates it. Every bottle cap and polymer fragment is a reminder that microplastics are no longer confined to oceans and landfills – they’ve been detected in human lungs, placentas, and bloodstreams. It's a fitting visual for an issue that explores the latest research on how these invisible invaders might affect our health.

Pentagram Design’s Austin team commissioned Robson to create the sculpture as part of their ongoing collaboration with UCSF Magazine, translating complex scientific themes into compelling visual narratives.

“I see plastic debris as a global, anthropogenic, environmental nightmare that could be transformed into a dream,” Robson says. Her cover reframes this crisis as a biological reality that science is only beginning to fully understand.

The photo of the sculpture was taken by Marshall Coles.