Are you curious about your roots? Check out these OkayAfrica videos to see how knowing their ancestry impacted members of The Roots and A Tribe Called Quest.

The Roots’ Questlove’s maternal lineage points to Sierra Leone, while Black Thought’s ancestry stems from the Mandinka Tribe, whose rich oral history was passed down by singers.

Q-Tip’s tribal ancestry links to Djola, a tribe who made a musical instrument similar to the banjo—which created Blues, which influenced music and lead to hip-hop—forever changing the modern music scene.

Showcase your own roots by adding a DNA Ancestry Signature to your DNA Portrait—it’s a scannable barcode “signature” that crosses over from physical to digital to trace your maternal lineage. The barcode is placed at the bottom right of your portrait in a color that compliments your DNA art.

Get 15% off + free shipping on any DNA 11 order with code VALENTINE15 (valid until Jan. 29).

Videos from OkayAfricaTV, in partnership with AfricanAncestry.

Biology meets technology meets design—London-based designer Samuel Wilkinson has created the Biome, an awe-worthy, technologically-influenced flora terrarium. Its climate, nutrients and water level can be controlled through your smartphone or tablet. Via Design Milk:

According to Wilkinson, “the idea promotes ‘digital downtime’ by finding an alternative use for smartphones and encouraging their owners to consider a slower life. The control and nurturing of a real mini eco-system takes patience and care, contrasting with the immediacy of messaging or tweeting that is so characteristic of the smartphone generation.”

The Biome was developed for an exhibition titled Slow Tech – Designs for Digital Downtime at trend agency Protein’s exhibition space. The exhibition was curated by Henrietta Thompson (editor-at-large at Wallpaper*).

Photo by Sylvain Deleu.

We know for a fact that fantastic gifts come in mini packages—like our DNA Mini Portraits—and that’s why we’re excited for today’s Holiday Countdown Contest give-away from MOO: 100 mini-cards and a Mosaic Frame!

Half the size of a standard business card, MiniCards are great for showing off your portfolio, your products or your business. With the option of a different image on every card, upload your own artwork or choose from thousands of designs. Position (and re-position) your MiniCards in a Mosaid Frame to make the perfect arrangement.

Want a chance to win today’s prize? Re-Tweet something from our Twitter feed, publicly share or comment on one of our Facebook posts, or comment on the blog for a chance to win.

Stay tuned all week for a chance to win DNA 11 portraits, CanvasPop prints,  and more!
(And if you haven’t yet entered to win the grand prize, enter today!).

We’re spreading colourful cheer today thanks to our friends at GelaSkins, who gave us two $40 vouchers to give away.

The best skins on the planet! GelaSkins are removable covers for protecting and customizing your portable devices. They feature stunning, photo-quality graphics ranging from fine art prints to contemporary urban images designed by our growing family of artists from around the globe. Stand out in the crowd with personalized protection from GelaSkins.

Wanna win? Visit our Facebook Page and “Share” today’s contest post. We’ll choose a winner at random!

Stay tuned all week for a chance to win DNA 11 portraits, CanvasPop prints and more!

(And if you haven’t yet entered to win the grand prize, enter today!).

DNA 11 is merrily making the holidays even brighter with our Holiday Countdown Contest. With a Grand Prize and daily giveaways, we’re spreading the holiday cheer one day at a time!

Grand Prize (Value $600+!)
•   DNA Portrait from DNA 11
•   Canvas Print from CanvasPop (18×24″)
•   Bamboo Capture Tablet from Wacom

Daily Giveaways — December 12-23!
In addition to giving away a DNA Portrait and CanvasPop prints, some of our friends have also donated some goodies to help spread the cheer. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for a chance to win great prizes from Gelaskins, Sincerely, Blurb, Moo, Corel, Umbra and more!

Contest Details
•   Grand-prize entries are accepted here until 12:00pm EST on December 23 at 12:00pm.
•   One grand-prize entry per person.
•   The grand-prize winner will be chosen at random and contacted via email on Dec. 28, 2011.
•   Daily winners will be chosen at random by the CanvasPop team.

Happy Holidays from DNA 11!

Steampunk Rock Star Scientist Poster Art Prints (above)
If you’re like us, everyday is a celebration of Watson and Crick, the duo who together proposed the double helix/spiral staircase structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. Now you can pay tribute to your favourite scientists in style with these Steampunk Rock Star Scientist Prints.

Intro to Molecular Bonding T-Shirt
If you put six H’s, two C’s and one big O in a room together, what would happen? Consult Figure 1: Alcohol at a Party. Available as both men’s and women’s tees, it’s a perfect gift for those scientific party animals.

Biochemies DNA Plush Toys
These DNA plush toys magnetically interact where they hydrogen bond! These little guys aren’t available for purchase yet, but you can back the project on Kickstarter for first dibs on a set of your own when they’re released in March 2012. These happy bases would make great desk toys, educational tools, or gifts for current and aspiring scientists.

Molecular Cuisine Starter Kit
This culinary kit is more like chemistry set, containing sachets of agar-agar, calcium lactate, sodium alginate, soy lecithin and xanthan gum to help aspiring molecular chefs experiment at home. The kit also includes an arsenal of tools like a syringe and silicone tubing, plus a DVD of 50+ recipes for molecular implosion.
via Wired

Desktop Jellyfish Tank
Because regular aquariums just don’t cut it anymore! This kit includes all the essential tools to get started, from the 7 gallon tank, air pump and feeding tube, to a voucher for moon jellyfish delivery (they’re guaranteed to arrive alive!).  It’s the first affordable aquarium designed specifically for jellyfish and it’s as easy to maintain as a regular fish tank (which jellyfish can’t live in because they get sucked into the air filtration system). Available for pre-order.
via Kickstarter

Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed
Body art meets popular science in this mind-blowing collection of science-inspired tattoos. Written by renowned science writer Carl Zimmer, each tattoo provides a leaping-off point for reflection on the science in question—whether it’s the importance of an image of Darwin’s finches or the significance of the uranium atom inked into the chest of a young radiologist.

DNA bases charm bracelet
Charm her with a DNA bracelet! This sterling-silver bracelet was created to honour Rosalind Franklin, who’s x-ray crystallography work was critical in Watson and Crick’s determination of the double helix structure of DNA. The bracelet features charms of the four bases found in DNA: A, C, G, and T.

Here at DNA 11 we have cool offices, but can admit that this Tetra-Shed deserves some attention.

Our friends at Gizmodo shed light on this dramatically-designed modular office space:

Each shed provides a private or semi-private workspace for a couple of employees, complete with deskspace, overhead storage, and subtle recessed lighting. A series of windows and a front door let additional light in, but the whole thing can be sealed up when complete privacy or quiet is needed. (Coming in January)

This cutting-edge workpod was designed by David Ajasa-Adekunle, a London architect who obviously knows how to design a unique space to foster productivity and creativity.  Once available, Tetra-Sheds can be clad in either copper, zinc, corten steel or marine plywood and internally lined in either birch faced plywood or plasterboard.

What would you rather work in—an open concept or angular pod?

Photo via Gizmodo.

We could barely contain our excitement when we found Biochemies’ DNA Molecule Plush Dolls on KickStarter. How could we not back this?

From Kickstarter:
DNA is the most fundamental component in our biology and is composed of 4 bases: adenine (green), thymine (red), guanine (black), and cytosine (blue). Furthermore, the bases interact with each other via hydrogen bonds (accomplished by magnets) to form base pairs. Adenine and thymine form a base pair via 2 bonds while guanine and cytosine form another via 3 bonds.

Jun Axup kickstarted this project after she crafted and sewed the mascot of her science education website, Biochemies.com. She then set out to create chemically-accurate DNA toys.

Backers of $35 or more will receive a set of 4 DNA plush dolls, a set of 4 DNA stickers, plus their name and link on Biochemies website. Pledges will support the dolls’ production, making them available in March 2012.

Biochemies aims to inspire youth to love and pursue science by promoting the positive implications of science in a fun and informative manner. The site features a directory of science games and activities, plus free wallpapers, a blog and more.

Jun is a PhD candidate in chemical biology in San Diego, CA. Her thesis work involves developing targeted cancer drugs. She is a strong advocate of science education and changing cultural attitudes towards science.

Carl Zimmer—the bona fide curator of science-based body art—recently released his book Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed, a mind-blowing collection of tattoos that pay homage to everything from Darwin’s finches to neural nets, and of course DNA.

Popular Science’s article Science Ink: A Taxonomy of Tattoos Inspired by Science features a jaw-dropping gallery of the book’s body art:

The science obsessed—or at least those enthusiastic enough to etch their favorite equations, diagrams, schematics, and formulas directly onto their dermises—show off their needlework in a coffee table-worthy collection of pics, arranged by Zimmer into categories centered on major scientific disciplines: math, chemistry, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, astronomy, and a dedicated chapter on DNA.

We can’t wait to get our hands on this book and explore the personal connections between science buffs and their inspired tattoos.

A few years ago we were introduced to Jules Pieri and her team at Daily Grommet, an online marketplace that not only showcases cool products, it also tells the stories behind them. (Check out DNA 11 on Daily Grommet here)

Jules is also a Harvard MBA Grad, Class of ’86, and since we have been one of their most popular “Grommets” to date, she asked us to be a part of her 25th reunion at her alma mater.

“Attendance exceeded all projections and we even broke the all-time record with 55% of our 25 year anniversary class showing up,” Jules said.

DNA 11 gave one lucky Harvard alumni their very own DNA portrait. Also, in recognition of how special this class of 1986 is, each graduate was also given a $100 gift certificate.

A real treat to be at such a landmark educational institution with the likes of truly interesting and successful people. Cheers to the Class of ’86!