Science Tattoos "HeartFlowerNerve.jpg"

"It's a tattoo, as you'll see in the picture, of a heart. Growing from the heart is a seeding dandelion, from which are flowing, instead of seeds, nerve cells.The dandelion serves as a great way to tie the two together, and also adds a good element of motion to the tattoo. The stem of the dandelion is, essentially, the superior vena cava, and the roots are the pulmonary arteries (going off to the lungs). The dandelion leaves are all growing out of the aortic arch. The angle of the heart makes some confused as to what they're seeing. The heart is rotated so that the majority of the image is the right atrium (purple) and ventricle (red). A small portion of the left ventricle and atrium are seen on the rightmost part of the image.
On the blog, The Loom, carl asked whether scientists wear many tattoos of their science. The answer was yes. He posted all the tattoos people sent him here on Flickr. If you've got one you'd like to share, send it (along with some explanation) to: blog at carl zimmer dot com. Via: Flickr