“I am a neuroscientist. As a graduate student, after successfully passing my qualifying exam, I celebrated by getting this tattoo. It is the hieroglyphic for the word “brain”. It is the earliest written reference to the brain dating back to the 17th century BC. I am convinced that the brain is the greatest mystery in the universe! “–Jason Trageser
-
About The Loom
Carl Zimmer writes about science regularly for the New York Times and magazines such as Discover, where he is a contributing editor and columnist.
He is the author of six books, the most recent of which is Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life. His website is carlzimmer.com and his address is [ blog at carlzimmer dot com ].
Click here for the RSS feed for the Loom at its new location.
-
Recent Posts -
Science Tattoo Emporium
I once wondered aloud if scientists had tattoos of their science. The answer was yes, and this ever-growing collection is the evidence. If you want to share your own scientific ink, send it to me with some explanation.
-
My Latest Book: Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life
- DISCOVERmagazine: Living World
- DISCOVER Blogs: Bad Astronomy
March 14th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
As far as I can tell, those hieroglyphs spell AIZ. Period (.) included. So… Is AIZ ancient Egyptian for brain?
December 1st, 2008 at 4:55 am
Yes, it is.
You can find it in the “Theaurus Linguae Aegyptia” (German):
http://aaew.bbaw.de/tla/index.html