Sandra writes, “My tattoo is an intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell, my favourite type of neuron. Only discovered a few years ago, it detects light without vision and communicates directly to a part of the brain (the suprachiasmatic nucleus) that helps control circadian rhythms.”
Posts Tagged ‘biology tattoos’
Seeing Without Eyes
The Evolution of Chad
Chad writes, “Based on Huxley’s Man’s Place in Nature.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ape_skeletons.png
Voyaging
Craig writes:
“I teach English at a community college in Kansas City. My tattoo is attached. You might wonder why I am sending a tattoo of a sailing ship to you. That’s not just any ship: it is the Beagle, in a famous image as it anchored off of the Galapagos. Darwin has long been one of my main intellectual heroes. In addition, I do teach science (evolution and climate change at various times) in writing classes because the “debates” about each represent much that is wrong with public discourse today and because we have a theme of informed citizenship in those classes; it is impossible to be an informed citizen without some understanding of what science is and how it works. For both of those reasons, teaching science in college writing classes is both relevant and very interesting”
A Cell Biology Lesson Under the Needle
Troy writes that he got his tattoo “as a post-doctoral fellow studying protein folding. The tattoo is sort of a telescoping view of the contents in a cell (many contents omitted, obviously). This came about from a very vague idea of something I wanted, and the artist (Chris Adamek, Immortal Ink, Clinton, NJ) really ran with it. He has no scientific training but came up with some really amazing artwork. He was so enthusiastic and wanted to know all about what it all meant and how it works. I enjoyed the experience of sitting with him for three days as much as I enjoy the result. The DNA doesn’t code for anything (at least not intentionally).”
Jellyfish
Amy writes, “I am a marine biologist and I find jellyfish intriguing. I just thought a jellyfish would make a cool marine bio tattoo.”
Zebrafish
Robin writes, “I recently graduated from Bard College. My senior thesis in biology used zebrafish as a model organism, and in honor of this and the three previous years I spent working with this animal, I got a tattoo of one. He’s a male, as one can tell by the all green fins and the slim belly.”
Hidden Biology
Tony writes, “While my hobby lies with spiders (mainly theraphosids) and other arachnids, scorpions also have some attraction for me as well. When I found a tattoo ink that fluoresces under blacklight like a scorpion does, well it seemed to make for a perfect tattoo!”
A Trilobite, This Time With Wings
Glendon writes:
“I am not a scientist, but I am an oil painter and illustrator in awe of science. My work can be seen on the Scienceblog, Of Two Minds as well as the online ‘zine The Eloquent Atheist. My blog is called The Flying Trilobite, and I paint fanciful and surreal images inspired by the discoveries in biology and evolutionary history. Unreal trilobites with insect or bat wings have been a part of my work for over 12 years now and I have painted some of them on pieces of shale, as in this interview with Virginia Hughes. Yesterday I got this tattoo on my arm.”
Carl: Why so many trilobites?
The Genetic Staircase
Mike writes, “I know that I’m supposed to provide some sort of explanation, but I feel like everyone can probably tell that this is DNA. Every once in awhile someone will ask what’s on my arm, in which case I respond that it’s a futuristic staircase. Then they stare quizzically and I laugh.”
The Invader
Russ writes:
Podarcis sicula (Italian wall lizard) is native to Italy, and the nearby Mediterranean coast. It thrives in cities, and has probably been a human urban commensal for 2000 years. They and their congeners (P. muralis) have been introduced into many places in Europe, including France, southern England, and Germany. they may be the most widely introduced temperate reptile species. There are at least four extant populations of Podarcis sicula and muralis introduced to North America: Long Island (NY), Topeka (KS), Cincinnati (OH), and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. there was a population in Philadelphia but they are apparently now extinct, and I recently heard of what sounds like a separate introduction in central NJ. All releases are associated with the pet trade and are decades old. Podarcis is here to stay, lacertid lizards finally made it over the pond.
I’m interested in them because I’m interested in invasive species and what they can tell us about natural invasions. I’ve looked at the parasite loads of all four extant pops, and they are quite depauperate compared to what would be expected. I’ve done really detailed work on the demography and the food habits of the LI pop, and next year I’m going to Italy to document the same things in the native habitat. I’m
expecting to see evolutionary changes as they adapt to the new environments.I mostly study turtles; this is my first real foray into lizard work. However, I couldn’t see how my favorite turtles would transfer into a nice tattoo, not quite colorful enough.
Never Forget Your Squid Anatomy
Rachel writes, “I recently got this tattoo as a graduation present to myself. I just graduated from Florida Tech with my BS in marine biology. I’ll be moving to New Zealand in July to study giant squid with my childhood hero, Dr. Steve O’Shea.”
Carl: That’s like a physicist saying she’s going to work with Einstein. Have fun. [O'Shea on Wikipedia]
Feminism and Cannibalism
I am a soil scientist and entomologist. My favorite insects/arthropods are praying mantises, psuedoscorpions and spiders. I am also a big time feminist. I find praying mantises to be so fascinating, and while they are extremely adept killing machines, they are also one of the oldest insects around! This tattoo is a metaphor for my independance and tribute to my mantis friends.From Wikipedia: Sexual cannibalism is common among mantids in captivity, and under some circumstances may also be observed in the field. The female may start feeding by biting off the male’s head (as with any prey), and if mating had begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male’s head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilisation while obtaining sustenance. Later, this bizarre behaviour appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behaviour in the field is natural, or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer, remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual creatures, and notice any disturbance occurring in the laboratory or field such as bright lights or moving scientists. Research by Liske and Davis (1987) and others found (e.g. using video recorders in vacant rooms) that Chinese mantises that had been fed ad libitum (so were not starving) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Courtship display has also been observed in other species, but it does not hold for all mantises.So in fact, the common assumption that all females cannabilize their mates either during/after copulation is debated because most observations of this were in a lab, where the mantis was likely highly aware of her captors. I have a magnet on my fridge with a woman in a wedding dress that says…”Marriage? No…I don’t mate well in captivity!”
Carl: For more on mantises and their hungry love, see my article in the New York Times.
