Tattoos, like other fashion items, change over time. Some years it might be cool to have a sailor with a knife held between his clenched teeth, other times, it might be Maori traditional tattoos, christian icons, national flags or indeed Chinese symbols.

Today, however, it seems that the trendy tattoo aficionado is wearing science.

Yes science.

Makes sense really. In the search for symbols that mean something significant in your life, you might turn to science for the answer.

If you are an entomologist, you might wish to get yourself a tattoo like this one on the left. An entomologist studies insects and the bug in the middle of this girl’s back is probably because they have occupied a significant part of her life. She is, in fact, an entomology PhD student.

The non-scientist might not decide on something so dramatic, but still, there is an increase in the number of science-based tattoos that are being designed.

People with coeliac disease having the part of the gluten protein that they cannot digest tattooed on their body I know a girl that had the bio hazard symbol tattooed on her skin.

Other tattoos include trilobites, darwin’s face, the evolution fish, the periodic table of elements, a diagram of the cell, a timeline of embryonic development, trees, atoms, turtles, an octopus, important scientific equations,

It is easy to see the appeal. Science can mean something significant to many people. Families with inherited diseases running in the family can be deeply affected by these conditions and they might find that science has a significant impact on their lives. Scientists themselves are generally a heterogeneous bunch ranging from the very conservative to the very radical and indeed many of them are tattoo-types and increasingly they get tattoos related to what they study.

This following tattoo belongs to Bob Datta. It looks like any old chunk of DNA double helix. However, it is a very specific sequence of DNA that spells out the initial letters of his wife’s name. Now that’s geek love.

Comments or questions welcome.