nerding out with jewelery

I'll be honest with you.  I love science.  Biology, chemistry, microbiology...completely fascinating!  Unfortunately so many of the textbooks are as dry as the sand in Death Valley.  (Although I did have a Pathogenic Microbiology text that had hints of sarcasm which always made the reading more enjoyable, but I digress.)

I love any chance to nerd out a little bit, whether it is reading the comic strip XKCD, making up songs about the immune system (That was for a class assignment, don't worry I am not that nerdy.), or making DNA earrings.  One of my coworkers was moving back to Montana, and we wanted to send her off with something that would remind her of her Awesome (and modest) coworkers.

I started with this tutorial, and this image.

I followed the tutorial to the letter, and my first attempt looked like this:

 It seemed a little big.  For round two I modified it a bit, both simplifying the design and adding a bit of polish.  I had to sacrifice the molecular accuracy, but I am pretty sure that most people don't expect their nerd-jewelery to be a perfect molecular model.

The finished product turned out like this:

I wrapped it up and it was ready to go!

Crafting project finished! Hooray!

Now in celebration, I will sing you my immunology song.  It is about the body's reaction to poison oak, entitled "A Tale of Type IV Hypersensitivity."

I am singing it to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

One, Two.. A One, Two, Three, Four...

Penta∙deca∙chate∙chol has landed on the body

It binds up to an APC which migrates to a lymph node

This will be so sen∙si∙ti∙zing, this will be sen∙sa∙tion∙al

Once T-cells have seen the hapten they can make effectors!

Caller:  Ready for Phase two!

Once again you’re in the woods enjoying a nice picnic

The birds are singing, sun is shining, food is now digested.

You pick a spot to make a pit-stop; doom is lying just ahead

E∙li∙ci∙ta∙tion, here it comes; Whoops! That was Poison Ivy!

Caller: Leaves of three…let them be!

Haptens have arrived again, it’s déjà vu to T-cells.

When memory’s triggered, they come back and inflame your poor skin

Oh, you must resist the itching; scratching, scratching is not wise

It will signal there’s more danger, which makes your blisters bigger!

Caller: How much longer must we wait?!

Don’t you worry it will clear up once the antigen is gone

Now just you watch out when you’re out there ‘cause haptens lurk and wait for you!

If you meet them for a third time they will not be kind to you

So…make your skin pleased and avoid these contact sensitivities!

If you made it through that, I applaud you.  Normal people tend to zone out after the first line.  I hope you have a fantastic day.  Later on if you find yourself thinking about your beautiful DNA, while humming Yankee Doodle...well, I am sorry.  But you did choose to read the whole thing.