Superbug Gifts for Geeks Blog

All the world needs...

2008-11-09T01:57:00.000-08:00

This 'Love, Peace and Chocolate' design now comes in two versions - one with the molecular structure of chocolate (theobromine) and one without. I went for a sort of retro theme, with brightly colored flowers and copious amounts of pink. It looks pretty cool on the dark tees, like the one shown above.

Things you shouldn't say to a PhD student...

2008-11-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

How's the PhD going?
Have you written up yet?
Lazy students, huh?
My taxes fund you
Students know nothing of the real world
Of what practical importance is your research?
How many papers have you published?
When do you plan to get a real job?
So you won't be a real doctor?
When do you finish?

Get it on a t-shirt here!

Food Poisoning Design

2008-11-03T03:37:00.000-08:00

Badly cooked Christmas turkey causes more cases of food poisoning than everything else put together. Or something like that.

I realise this is perhaps a little early to start with the Xmas designs, but food poisoning just happens to be a subject that is currently on my mind. Except, in my case, it was a lamb kebab that was to blame, not turkey.

Looking on the bright side though, languishing at home instead of going to work has given me a chance to create some lovely holiday-themed decorations for my shop. It's about all I am good for today really. That, and watching some Jeremy Kyle or whatever other nonsense is on daytime TV.

PHD Comics

2008-10-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

XDRTB.org

2008-10-20T14:07:00.001-07:00

This video is about the increasing problem of extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). It's just a couple of minutes long and you can visit the XDRTB.org website to find out more and get involved.

Agar Art

2008-10-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

To most people, using bacteria to paint unique pieces of artwork is verging on the strange side. But, call us geeks or weirdos, we love these drawings created with living microorganisms! The jelly-like solid agar used in laboratories to grow bacteria and fungi has played the role of the canvas for these paintings. Niall, the scientist/artist behind the images, used different species of environmental microorganisms to get the different colors required for the images.

There are other Agar Art images available in the Superbug shop, including a number of Xmas products, such as cards and the tree ornament and keepsake box shown below.

Evil Genius Personal Ad

2008-10-18T02:17:00.000-07:00

I got thinking about supervillains and have a few questions. Firstly, is there a villain tailor somewhere who specialises in producing sinister yet well-fitting dark-colored costumes for the villain with taste? Because I can hardly imagine Dr Doom or The Green Goblin sitting down with a sewing kit in between spates of killing people. Also, where do the bad guys manage to find so many minions to do their dirty work? We all know that most of these unfortunates are going to die at some point in the film, and at least one will be murdered by the boss himself to show us just how mean and unfeeling the evil dude is. So why on Earth would anyone take such a job? This Evil genius personal ad, shown here on a tote bag, is one of my more popular products and was created after watching one too many superhero films.

Top unanswered questions about supervillains or bad guys from films:

Who makes their costumes?
Where do they get all the minions from?
Do they practice their evil laughs in front of a mirror?
Are they nice to their mothers?
Do they ever get embarrassing illnesses, like athlete's foot or dandruff?
Why do I care about this nonsense?

Spell Words with the Periodic Table

2008-10-17T02:04:00.000-07:00

Can you spell your name in elements? This is a cool web site that lets you input any word and it will display it in the form of elements from the periodic table. Some words don't work, but others, like 'Think' on the t-shirt above, can be created with the letter symbols for the elements.

I created several designs like this in Superbug, spelling out 'Think', 'Genius', 'I luv boys', 'Brainy', 'Chocolate' and lots more. I have also made several personalised products spelling out any word of choice, providing the elements needed to spell it exist.

Spooky Halloween Science Designs

2008-10-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

With Halloween rapidly approaching, I have added some spooky designs to Superbug. In the past, I have never gone in for the holiday-themed products that many other print on demand shops seem to have in huge numbers. But this year, I thought I would give it a try and have modified some older designs for both Halloween and Xmas.

Some of my existing designs are on the twisted side any way, and I figured that the flesh eating Streptococcus pyogenes and the unkillable, drug resistant MRSA have a kind of monster/vampire/zombie feel to them. So why not add some bat wings and fangs?!

The shop has had a change of colour scheme in time for October 31st in the hope that it will encourage a few visitors to buy a Halloween gift for their favorite scientist!

Bacterial Culture

2008-10-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Bacterial culture flask crammed full of smiling microbes, featuring the words "Bacteria are fun!"

This design is one of the more recent additions to the Bacteria section of Superbug and is one of my favorites. After all, like most microbiologists, I have definitely spent far too many hours attempting to grow flasks of bacteria in the lab. Only to find they have somehow become contaminated with something that's not meant to be there.

Superbug Gifts for Geeks

2008-10-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

So what's with this blog, I hear you ask?

To start at the beginning. I quite like science or, to be more precise, quite like bacteria. And this moderate degree of respect for all the teeny microbes coinhabiting our planet led to a slightly strange hobby of drawing cartoons of smiling germs saying various faintly humorous things. You can see the first of many such illustrations below. Yes, I really am that strange and won't even try to make any excuses.

Then I got thinking, what if there are others out there who also share my passion for bacteria? So I opened a shop selling all my unique images on a range of products - t-shirts, accessories, mugs, bags, hats, stickers, badges and various others items. I drew more designs, even daring to venture away from my trustly little microbes and try my hand at chemistry, virology, cell culture, or just plain old science geek-themed drawings.

But my plans for bacterial world domination have not run smoothly. Perhaps there are not all that many people out there who want to declare their friendship with bacteria across their chest, or maybe I am simply not reaching a large enough audience. So I decided to start a blog. I will be posting any new designs that creep from the depths of my mind and make their way onto a t-shirt, along with anything else I think might be of interest to fellow science-geeks.

Still reading? Then maybe you would like some of the stuff at my Superbug Shop?

Thanks for visiting! x