New Scientist physical science new editor Victoria Jaggard writes, “I was excited to see the return of the science ink emporium. It’s encouraged me to finally share a piece I had done about a year ago. Basically, until high school I was completely in love with only music and literature, while my classes made science seem deadly dull. Then my English teacher introduced me to science writing, and that changed everything. Science as presented in magazines like Discover and Scientific American (and of course National Geographic) was messy and heroic and as full of joy and heartbreak as any great novel, and the story-telling was just as engaging. That got me so excited about science that I started noticing how it also inspired photography, sculpture, music, theater … even fashion. Now I’m a complete space geek, which is something I never would have predicted at 17, and a huge supporter of better science communication through the arts. I chose this astrolabe –an astronomy tool from 17th-century India, used in a 21st-century study of brass metallurgy–to remind me that science and beauty have gone hand-in-hand for millennia.”
You can see the rest of the Science Tattoo Emporium here and in Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed.
Originally published January 13, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.