Geek Chic

I frequently sport my double-helix earrings, black ceramic ovals etched with the famous shape of our hereditary material. I snatched up these handmade gems at a craft fair a few years ago because who knew when I would ever see DNA earrings again?

I thought I might have to rely on mainstream jewelry that resembles science for the rest of my life.

Well, now I’ve been completely out-geeked. Popular Science reported last week that artisans at Nervous System jewelry studio are using open-source computer algorithms to create jewelry resembling coral or algae—or whatever else you can dream up. On their website, you can design your own jewelry using their programs. One uses physics principles to simulate the movement of springs. Another models biological patterns.

This group isn’t the only one wandering into the terrain of geeky baubles. The wilderness of web commerce and its multitude of tiny boutiques means that geeks everywhere can finally find the accessories of their dorky dreams. I’ve got my eye on a pair of earrings shaped like the brain’s chemical messengers (Serotonin for happiness? Dopamine for pleasure?), T-shirts with computer programming jokes I don’t quite get, and necklaces featuring diodes and capacitors for my long-lost inner electrical engineer.

Recent Blogs on Scienceline:

Voters Care About Science: E=Mc(Cain)² or Obamamentum=mv?

Green Vaccines and Autism

From Autoimmunity to HIV