Brittany writes:

“Someday i hope to be a wacky, flannel-sportin’ physicist. my tattoo is schroedinger’s equation for the wave function of a particle. i chose this equation because its elegance & symmetry reflect that of our multiverse, & also because it describes the fundamental source of “quantum weirdness.” time travel, quantum computers…no matter what happens in my life, there is an infinitely Glorious Plan swirling all about us….I would be honored to be included among the ranks of badass scientists all over the world. oh, & if you have any pull with any preeminent physicists, tell brian greene to return my fan mail! :]”

Continue reading “Weirdness, Quantum-style”

Troy writes that he got his tattoo “as a post-doctoral fellow studying protein folding. The tattoo is sort of a telescoping view of the contents in a cell (many contents omitted, obviously). This came about from a very vague idea of something I wanted, and the artist (Chris Adamek, Immortal Ink, Clinton, NJ) really ran with it. He has no scientific training but came up with some really amazing artwork. He was so enthusiastic and wanted to know all about what it all meant and how it works. I enjoyed the experience of sitting with him for three days as much as I enjoy the result. The DNA doesn’t code for anything (at least not intentionally).”

Continue reading “A Cell Biology Lesson Under the Needle”

In a couple weeks I head to Texas to the annual meeting of the American Society of Parasitologists to talk about parasites in pop culture. The symposium is called, “Parasitology: Public awareness through literature, art, and film.” Our panel has lots of creepy movie clips in store, plus other sorts of media including books and this humble blog. But maybe we’ll need to tack on “music” to the end of that list in the symposium title. Inspired by a post of mine on the gorey glam of Ampulex compressa , the emerald cockroach wasp, a band called Super Duper has composed a song. The video is below, and the lyrics below that…

Continue reading “Parasite Rock”