Catherine’s entry on toys (here) reminded me of clothing and accessories items I had seen earlier. Kyle at Chem Blog has been selling T-shirts, mugs, wall clocks or postal stamps – which are legal in the US and everything. I didn’t even know that was possible, but I just checked and found out that, in several (all?) countries, you can indeed customize stamps.

The folks at YellowIbis also make T-shirts featuring chemical structures. They picked molecules particularly relevant / amusing – so you can let everybody know that you’re cool as insert menthol structure, wear a green jumper showing the structure of a “lucky” 18-crown-6-ether for Saint Patrick’s Day, or alternatively you might want to give this T-shirt to a labmate.

In particular, I’d come across the made with molecules jewellery line, representing the actual structure of certain molecules influencing our behaviour (such as neurotransmitters or hormones). In a less obvious way – except for the DNA ones – the design of these items at Sci Wear also refers to chemical substances, each piece containing the actual microscopic picture of a molecule.

Which molecule would you like to wear? Personally – and you might say I’m biased – I can’t decide between the caffeine necklace and the chocolate (theobromine) earrings…

Anne

Anne Pichon (Intern, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)