Because I'm a geek. Obviously.

I've been pondering the whole scientific tattoos thing. Because let's face it, it's just a really cool idea. Astronomy, Chemistry and Physics contain some pretty damn amazing concepts and visuals, but obviously I wouldn't want a tattoo of something I'm going to find trivial and rubbish in a few years time. So I've been... mulling.

I have a shortlist of a few which I think would be pretty sweet. As with anything permanent, I figure it's got to be a dumb idea to rush out on a whim. So these are a few ponderings of mine. Any and all feedback is more than welcome!



Radiation pressure is, in my opinion, one of the coolest concepts in physics. Pressure exerted by light itself. In massive stars, radiation pressure on condensing dust grains is the driving force for a stellar wind of around 2000 kilometres per second. I think this one might make a good upper back tattoo.



Dopamine is a phenylethylamine derived neurotransmitter. It plays a lot of roles in the brain, from learning and memory to pleasure and excitement. I'm not quite sure where would be best for this.



The Pleiades. My favourite star cluster, and probably one of the most widely known in human cultures, from Norse to Maori. A shoulder tattoo, perhaps?



Corona Borealis. A cool little constellation, which is home to a number of interesting objects, including a few variable stars, at least one solar twin, some exoplanets, a couple of circumstellar disks... And the small red star marks the location of R Coronae Borealis, a particularly interesting variable star with some interesting chemistry. I've written something about it before. This might look good as an outer shin tattoo.


So these are all still just ideas. One day, if I can find a good enough tattooist and don't mind spending the money, maybe...

So, as may be obvious, I'm a bit of a geek. Like a lot of other geeks, I'm a big fan of both science and graphic novels, so when I see the two things combined it makes me happy! And I'm not talking about the usual brand of amusingly impossible "comic book science" either.

To commemorate 40 years after Neil Armstrong took those legendary steps onto the the lunar regolith, "T-Minus: The Race to the Moon" is a graphic novel (due for release soon), protraying the story of the space race. Written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by Zander and Kevin Cannon, this retelling is intended to be slightly different to the ones we've all seen before.

While the glory is normally given to the astronauts and the politicians who were figureheads for the whole endeavour, a lot of people forget that both the USA and the USSR each had a small army of scientists and engineers, without whom none of those glorious historic moments would have been possible. This comic book, so the author says, gives them a chance to shine.

The thing I find the most wonderful about this is, it's aimed at a slightly younger audience. In the Intenational Year of Astronomy and on the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings, I hope it does a lot to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. I think it's fair to say that the majority of people with an interest in such things are disappointed that in 40 years, we haven't been back to the Moon. There are no space hotels, and even when sub-orbital spaceflight becomes available to paying customers, it'll still cost roughly a year's wages for the average person.

Thinking about all of this, during the 60s, humanity was so focussed that with computer systems that could barely run a modern day Linux shell and without really knowing what we were doing, humanity achieved so very much in so little time. It's uplifting to think about what we're capable of as a species if we bother to look up from the doldrums of the day-to-day.

T-Minus is set for release in May.
I'm looking forward to it so much, I'm even tempted to pre-order a copy!
(That would be a first for me.)

Just to prove that even though I'm a scientist these days, I'm still a graphic designer too...

I made this logo for a friend's Halo guild. I think it looks pretty cool, in a militaristic kinda way. If you've ever played, you might also notice that the arm's shaped like a plasma sword...