It’s Valentine’s Day, in case you hadn’t noticed, and red roses are the order of the day. To celebrate, we thought we’d run a competition to help you declare your love for science.

The prizes are suitably science-y (not to mention romantic). We’ve got a pendant to give away, with an anatomically-correct heart – four chambers, mammalian, complete with major blood vessels. And for those more into genetics, there’s a pair of his-and-hers chromosome towels monogrammed XY and XX respectively. Plus a DNA pendant – simple but elegant.

What do you have to do to get your hands on these prizes? Just declare your love of science through a poem. You might choose to woo us through a sonnet, ballad, haiku or even a limerick – whatever warms your heart.  Here are some examples to get you inspired:

Roses are red, violets are blue,
We study petal gene expression in situ

The features we can barely see,
Are vital in taxonomy,
And horse fly species, though we swat ‘em,
Are featured with a popstar’s bottom.

Roses are red, Violets are blue,
And you have 10 times more bacteria in your gut
than cells in your body – true.

You have until the end of tomorrow, Friday 15 Feb, to post your poem in the comments field below. Winners will be announced on Monday, once the red roses have wilted.

If you need more inspiration, read about some of the research we’re doing that has real heart.

Update Friday 15 February 5pm AEDT: Alas, our poetry competition is now closed. Thanks for all the fantastic entries, it’s clear you truly do love science.  Keep an eye out for our post on Monday, where we’ll be announcing our winners.