<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/bbdba966-088d-44ff-b8f2-0ac88b10b12d/77AE21EF-D7D8-4C0E-BD0A-ACF50520D86C/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2007/08/06/branded_with_science.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=sublink" href="http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2007/08/06/branded_with_science.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=sublink" style="font-size: 11px;">scienceblogs.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2007/08/06/branded_with_science.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=sublink"><P class="categories"><A href="http://www.carlzimmer.com"></A> </p> <DIV id="entry-49925" class="entry"> <P><IMG width="298" height="93" class="inset" src="http://scienceblogs.com/loom/upload/2007/08/datta%20crop.jpg" alt="datta%20crop.jpg" />The other day I was pondering how scientists tattoo themselves with their science. I was at a pool party where a friend, <A href="http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/neurobeh/axel/personal/Sandeep_Datta.html">Bob Datta,</A> had jumped into the water with his kids. Datta is a post-doc at Columbia, where he studies genes in Drosophila flies. I noticed that Bob had a tattoo of DNA on his shoulder. At first I thought it was a generic snippet of the molecule, but then Bob told me that it actually represents, in <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_code">the genetic code</A>, his wife's initials: EEE. Geek love in its noblest form.</p> <P>Bob's tatoo reminded me that I have seen other scientists festooned with their science. There was the <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycologist">mycologist</A> whose arms were covered with a black mesh, which he explained to me was subterranean network of threads produced by the <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides">death cap mushroom</A>. And then there was the developmental biologist whose arm is swathed in the image of the fish he studies. (He declined my request for a photo of the tattoo until he gets tenure.)</P></DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/77AE21EF-D7D8-4C0E-BD0A-ACF50520D86C/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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