What better way to mark a lifetime of science than with a tattoo? This permanent body ink is the badge of true passion for these scientists.
Laci Gerhart
Ecologists aren鈥檛 above obsessing over the cool animals in their backyards.
Laci Gerhart, Evolution and Ecology associate professor, has a tattoo of two Madagascar gold dust day geckos that frequented her porch in Hawai鈥檌. She got to know these two geckos really well by recognizing the patterns on their backs, which are featured on her tattoo.
In true ecologist fashion, she used the Wild ID photographic mark-recapture software to identify and name all the geckos that lived on her porch.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just my nerdy obsession with the geckos that lived on my porch,鈥 Gerhart said.
![Tattoo of two green geckos with red patterns on their backs](/sites/default/files/media/images/GeckoTattoo.jpg)
![Headshot of Laci Gerhart-Barley](/sites/default/files/media/images/Gerhart-BarleyLaci20171010.jpg)
![Tattoo of phrase "Que sais-je"](/sites/default/files/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%202.14.50%E2%80%AFPM.png)
Her other tattoo is the French phrase "Que sais-je" on her right clavicle. The phrase, made famous by French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne, means, "What do I know?" He used the phrase to remind himself and those who studied with him that, considering all the knowledge there is to have in the world, how much can one person really know?
鈥淚 got the tattoo after I completed my dissertation to remind myself that, while I know a lot about some things, there are whole fields of study about which I know virtually nothing,鈥 she said.
Ian Faloona
After going to a tarot reading when he was 13 years old, Ian Faloona, Atmospheric Sciences professor, was told that he would make a great magician.
He considered that career path, but after he got the science bug, he had to let go of that dream. And so, at 19, he got a tattoo of a wizard on his shoulder. According to Faloona, this 1989 tattoo was way before tattoos were cool.
![Tattoo of a wizard](/sites/default/files/media/images/Tattoo_2023.jpg)
![Head shot of 澳门六合彩开奖结果走势图 scientist Ian Faloona](/sites/default/files/media/images/20150326_faloona_ian_5723.jpg)
![Ian Faloona and his wizard tattoo, 1989](/sites/default/files/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%202.19.52%E2%80%AFPM.png)
鈥淚t was me saying goodbye to that aspect of my personality,鈥 Faloona said. But science is magic, and he strives to remember that. He lives by Clarke鈥檚 Third Law, which says 鈥渁ny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.鈥
鈥淭he fun thing about science is this sort of magical element,鈥 Faloona said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e trying to map out what鈥檚 magical, or finding the magic in a rational framework. I want to represent something that is beyond the science on my body.鈥
Madison Armstrong
Madison Armstrong, a fifth year Population Biology PhD candidate, has quite a few science tattoos.
One of her favorites is of two peppered moths鈥撯揳 鈥渃lassic urban evolution example,鈥 said Armstrong.
![Tattoos of peppered moths](/sites/default/files/media/images/IMG_0870.jpeg)
![Madison Armstrong posing in front of tidepools](/sites/default/files/media/images/IMG_7571_2-scaled%202.jpg)
![Close-up of peppered moth tattoo](/sites/default/files/media/images/IMG_0874.jpeg)
In 1955, Bernard Kettlewell found that the peppered moth uses tree bark as predator camouflage, with the white morph being most common. But after the Industrial Revolution caked the trees in soot, the black moth morphs became more predominant because of the selection pressure against the white morphs, which were now easily spotted by predators against the black trees.
Armstrong鈥檚 current work is rooted in urban stressors and marine urban evolution. She鈥檚 interested in how organisms deal with new, human-induced changes with little to no mechanisms to prepare them. Her tattoo is a homage to the beginning of her field.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of my more nerdy ones that relates back to my love of evolutionary biology and my discovery of urban evolution,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his field is so cool.鈥
Kate Laskowski and Kirsten Sheehy
It was a girl鈥檚 trip in Amsterdam and everyone was talking about things you regret not doing.
Kate Laskowski鈥檚 answer: a tattoo. So late that night, she and her friends found an artist who adorned the words 鈥淓ndless forms most beautiful鈥 on her arm.
![Headshot of Kate Laskowski](/sites/default/files/media/images/Kate-Laskowski-College-of-Biological-Sciences-UC-Davis-2.jpeg)
!["endless forms most beautiful" tattoo](/sites/default/files/media/images/IMG_5567_0.jpeg)
Laskowski is an assistant professor in Evolution and Ecology. Her tattoo is part of the last line from Darwin鈥檚 Origin of The Species.
鈥淔rom so simple a beginning, endless, beautiful forms are continuing to be evolved,鈥 said Laskowski. 鈥淚t reminds me why I love doing what I do. I鈥檓 fascinated by the natural world and all the beauty that鈥檚 in it.鈥
Laskowski studies unique behavioral patterns and processes that generate them, such as development and early life experience. To study this, she uses a clonal species of fish called the Amazon molly, which her Animal Behavior PhD student Kirsten Sheehy has tattooed on her calf.
![Kirsten's Amazon Molly tattoo on her ankle](/sites/default/files/media/images/amazon_tattoo.jpg)
![Headshot of Kirsten Sheehy](/sites/default/files/media/images/Sheehy-2020-768x768.jpeg)
Despite the Amazon molly being genetically identical, each individual behaves differently. To Sheehy, this indicates that 鈥渂eing different from each other is a fundamental part of being alive.鈥
Sheehy鈥檚 best friend inked her tattoo. 鈥淭his tattoo is a reminder of our friendship and how grateful I am for all the ways our differences allow us to grow.鈥
Over winter break, Laskowski is planning to expand her "Endless forms most beautiful" tattoo with freshwater fish graphics surrounding the words.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a wonderful explanation,鈥 Laskowski said. 鈥淭he evolutionary processes that have generated all the biodiversity are exceedingly elegant.鈥
Mia Lippey
With over seven tattoos of insects on her body, Mia Lippey, a fourth year PhD student in Entomology, truly represents her passion.
![Mia Lippey smiling at an insect](/sites/default/files/media/images/Lippey-Mia.jpg)
![Mia Lippey's tattoo sleeve](/sites/default/files/media/images/IMG_8507%202.jpg)
Her tattoos, in her words include:
![Japanese rhino beetle tattoo](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%202.50.55%E2%80%AFPM.png?h=e41bb1ef&itok=oy6MXWyV)
Japanese rhino beetles: 鈥淭hese were the insects that turned me into an entomologist as a child. I grew up in somewhat rural Japan, and it's a common pastime for kids to collect these rhino beetles and have them fight the males in cages. I spent a lot of my childhood collecting and fighting these little guys.鈥
![Centipede tattoo on forearm](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/IMG_8495.jpg?h=1c936f8b&itok=IM_h-LhR)
Scolopendra: 鈥淚 first came across a scolopendra in the wild when I was hiking the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Japan. I found one at the summit of the hike, and I knew I had to get one tattooed on me!鈥
![backswimmer on arm](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%202.37.53%E2%80%AFPM.png?h=71e57120&itok=64pnvPwx)
Backswimmer (Notonectidae): 鈥淥ne of the most painful bites I've gotten from a bug is this little backswimmer on my outer forearm. I gained a lot of respect for them after getting bitten.鈥
![Tattoo of Madagascar cockroach on inner upper arm](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%202.36.34%E2%80%AFPM.png?h=083911f6&itok=iDBuYDeZ)
Madagascar cockroach: 鈥淭hey make great pets. I kept a bunch over the years. They hiss when you pick them up by releasing air through their exoskeleton. Super cute and charming little guys!鈥
![emerging cicada tattoo on arm](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/IMG_8496.jpg?h=63519994&itok=gIvEYo5W)
Emerging cicada:鈥 Cicadas are another big part of my childhood鈥撯揓apan is swarming with them in the summertime. They are so loud and relentless in the summer that you go a little crazy.鈥
![Tattoo of worm on ankle](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%203.00.02%E2%80%AFPM.png?h=a59b4890&itok=3xnin0ta)
Worm: 鈥淚t's one of my favorites. I did it myself!鈥
![Darwin moth tattoo](/sites/default/files/styles/sf_thumbnail/public/media/images/Screenshot%202023-12-04%20at%202.41.34%E2%80%AFPM.png?h=8973d1bf&itok=RFSh4ni4)
Darwin moth: 鈥淭hese moths are named after Darwin because his observations of them led him to his theory of evolution. He noticed that they specialize on flowers with very long corollas, and theorized that the flower and moth, with a very long mouthpart, evolved together.鈥
Malia Reiss is a science news intern with 澳门六合彩开奖结果走势图 Strategic Communications. She studies environmental science and management at 澳门六合彩开奖结果走势图.
Media Resources
Kat Kerlin, 澳门六合彩开奖结果走势图 News and Media Relations, 530-750-9195, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu