Science Ink: A Taxonomy of Tattoos Inspired by Science

By Clay Dillow Posted 11.15.2011 at 4:35 pm 9 Comments

Neural Net Gabriel Pato's neural net goes from front to back, giving it a 3-D appearance. Which is more accurate, scientifically speaking. The human neural net shows order arising out of the chaos of a disorganized network of neurons. Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly how. But it's a beautiful display of physiology and biology creating very complex order from seeming disorder. And it's beautifully executed here. Used with permission from SCIENCE INK by Carl Zimmer. Published by Sterling Publishing © 2011

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A few years ago--by accident, really--Carl Zimmer became the de facto curator of science-based body art. The author of The Loom blog over at DISCOVER as well as numerous books, Zimmer asked his readers about their tattoos, and whether any of them had inked themselves up in science-inspired motifs. The response was greater than he imagined.

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Those responses, which often arrived in Zimmer’s inbox in the form of images, have now been compiled into a book published earlier this month, . In it, the science obsessed--or at least those enthusiastic enough to etch their favorite equations, diagrams, schematics, and formulas directly onto their dermises--show off their needlework in a coffee table-worthy collection of pics, arranged by Zimmer into categories centered on major scientific disciplines: math, chemistry, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, astronomy, and a dedicated chapter on DNA.

From those pages we’ve pulled a few of our favorite works--from Darwin’s finches to a Dali-like double helix to a front-to-back neural net--and collected them here. Click through the link above to see some of our favorite science-derived ink from the collection.

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9 Comments

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NoConsequenc3

11/16/11 at 10:57 am

See mom? Tattoos aren't just for punks.

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Midoman

11/16/11 at 3:47 pm

tatoos suck, and so does everyone that gets them.

THey are just a way of portraying something ud like to be..not somethingu are... punk snitches suck round ballz

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quseio2

11/16/11 at 4:32 pm

its art like any other drawing and more so than alot of crap i saw scrawled on paper.

Your comment is just bigoted and ignorant , so all those marines that defended our country suck just because they have a tatoo ? well i hope alqaeda turns you into their ho

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doitbetternow

11/20/11 at 12:29 am

Midoman, you no like tattoo, you no get tattoo. Or is that a difficult concept for you?

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Timmy11

11/30/11 at 12:34 am

I've seen quite a bit of scientific based tattoos, I've also seen a lot of philosophical type tattoo quotes in binary code.

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Midoman

12/01/11 at 2:40 pm

but meno liky pplz wid tatooz

seriously these punks running around with tatooed tears pfhahha give me a break..

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CyberPunk_666

12/02/11 at 2:36 pm

tattoes are a way of self expression and the comments you have left are uncalled for and rude, i think you should lear the saying "if you have nothing nice to say dont say anything at all" sorry but im doing an assignment on this and i think it a really cool way of expression i love on how we found a way to express our individuality with art and technology i have 20 tattoes atm and all of them say a bit of who i am and with me being in univerity for a biology class i think getting this done to me would be amazing

im sorry midoman but really if you want to be this way please just go away noone cares on you dissing tattoes thats your own view not other im a girl i have 20 tattoes getting 2 more this weekend and i have 8 peircings im a technology student and a biology student and on top of it im an art major and this is one way i can show who i am so i just ask to please not comment and be obsceanly rude to something that is a form of scientific art its uncalled for and it would really please me to not be here researching something and seeing a negative comment like that...
thank you

~CyberPunk~

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Insane_mexican05

12/07/11 at 11:50 am

cyberpunk i love u

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CyberPunk_666

12/14/11 at 2:53 pm

lol thank you xD
i just got a new one this weekend im at like 24 now lol xD