We've moved! The Art in Science has a new home at taiscience.com

Sunday 15 August 2010

Biology lessons on the skin

There are those with tattoos and there are those without and there is no intermediary spectrum, visible or otherwise, to bridge that gap.  There  is, however, quite an array of characters within the tattooed among us.  There are the bull dogs, the '50s pin ups, the tribal tats and the foliage clinging like an angry parasite to hairy limbs.  Then, there are those with biologically accurate sneak-peeks into the human anatomy.  Let me show you what I mean.

A person-to-be, cuddled up foetally, resting happily on that sturdy-looking pelvis before having to make the treacherous passage through it and into this light, airy world we live in. I do have one question, what part of the body is this tattoo on?  It doesn't looking like a burgeoning belly, or any stomach for that matter.  Answers on a postcard.

On the topic of the female reproductive system, what says "be mine" to a prospective suitor than finding a diagram of your womb, complete with those little walnut ovaries and dedicated fallopian tubes, greeting him on the first date (or second or third, dependent on your principles).  Has there ever been a stronger aphrodisiac? 

Likewise, opening up your heart to your loved one can become more literal than you had perhaps previously imagined!
Welcome to the gun show!  Here, ladies and gentleman, we have an arm.  Complete with tendons, ligaments and a fair amount of detail in those average-looking biceps. 


[Insert witty dodgy-hand-tattoo comment here]

This is one of my favourites!  Disappointing, however, that with all that effort he only decided to go for 22 ribs, rather than the usual 24.   He seems to have included only the 11th, and not the 12th, floating rib at the back.  Oh well, we can't all be scientists (or look it up in a primary school text book before getting it permanently inked on your skin).  He could perhaps have been making a statement; say for example he was born with the benign abnormality of having 2 less ribs than most (not uncommon) and his tattoo was an attempt to stick his mutation to the world.  Unlikely though.

This is the best picture I could find of this one but it's a nice little preview!

We'll finish with a guy/girl with a sense of humour!  A cute little kidney dangling from a kidney removal scar - way to make the most of a bad situation!!

4 comments:

  1. Great, striking pictures and humourous commentary. Love the post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. love this, very interesting, never seen tattoos quite like it, beats my tiny little butterfly!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank You! Nothing like some grotesque anatomical tattoos to start off the week! x

    ReplyDelete
  4. ditto, very cool, rather them than me tho, oh the pain!

    ReplyDelete