11 Cool Science Tattoos (PHOTOS)

Some people have science under their skin—literally. Instead of hearts or anchors, they get tattoos of their favorite scientific subjects--from DNA molecules and brain cells to schematics for important inventions. Keep clicking to see 11 science-centric tattoos from science writer Carl Zimmer, who wrote about science tatts in his book 'Science Ink.'

New Yorkers can catch Zimmer talking about 'Science Ink' on January 25 at the New York Academy of Sciences.

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Comments

[Womyn2me]

12:43 AM on 03/27/2013

Good lord, who did the jellyfish?? the lines are exquisite. seriously, who was the tattoo artist?

[noodles865]

03:47 PM on 01/20/2012

the lady with the 4 birds was my favorite its like those puzzles you have to adjust your eyes to one four birds the other a butterfly and 4 eyes.really cool and loved the tree

[BawstinSean]

01:49 PM on 01/10/2012

Voyager Phonograph!!! yessss!

[LivelyLexie]

12:31 PM on 01/10/2012

The neatest tattoo (and most well done) I've ever seen was on a man who surfed and was interested in marine biology. It was an octopus that came around to his chest, the tentacles wrapped around his ribs and back. It looked like an illustration out of a victorian novel. It was black and white and shaded with stapling. I don't have any tattoos, but I can appreciate fantastic ones.

[StarGazr5992]

11:55 AM on 01/09/2012

Way cool

[Zaida Adams]

11:38 AM on 01/09/2012

Very cool! Tried to pick a fave but each one is unique. Trying to think of what I'd have... Toss up between tree or sacred geometry / golden spiral.

[cenourinha]

11:28 PM on 01/07/2012

more here:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/science-tattoo-emporium/

[isis]

07:20 PM on 01/08/2012

I like the Philosopher's Stone idea.

[lensamy]

09:25 PM on 01/06/2012

Mine should be here too. I got the second law of thermodynamics/entropy "everything must come to and end". I still love it.

[Zip Zinzel]

02:46 AM on 01/06/2012

I came over here hoping to be proven wrong, on the proposition that
. . there is no such thing as a COOL Tatoo, scientific, or otherwise.
NOPE
I was right to begin with,

[Scott Martini]

07:21 PM on 01/09/2012

I find your use of syntax disturbing.

[Edward Standley]

09:07 PM on 01/05/2012

The finches are very nice. All of them are unique.

[jrwest78]

08:23 PM on 01/05/2012

there are two decent tattoos in this piece...

[Ted Bouklos]

05:29 PM on 01/05/2012

I think this is my favorite:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/files/2008/07/five-kingdoms.jpg

[alsm9]

03:06 PM on 01/05/2012

The jellyfish one is kinda cool....and the golden spiral.

[LivelyLexie]

12:32 PM on 01/10/2012

Those were the two I liked, I didn't think the rest were well done at all.

[onionboy]

02:42 PM on 01/05/2012

I'm actually in the market for some ink, but I didn't find any of these very cool...maybe the golden spiral.

[Tulka2]

05:11 PM on 01/05/2012

The neurons and jelly fish are way cool.

[jrwest78]

08:23 PM on 01/05/2012

here here

[onionboy]

12:59 PM on 01/06/2012

If neurons were my field, I'd be interested. I was kind of hoping for more than a pretty picture.

[carmenalex]

02:03 PM on 01/05/2012

Bad boy science nerds=HOT

[Debbie338]

04:30 PM on 01/11/2012

Girl science nerds, too!

[carmenalex]

09:30 AM on 01/12/2012

Very much agreed ;)