Still confused about the Higgs Boson?

This may or may not help:


The CERN choir, live in CERN control centre.

'What a Wonderful World'

David Attenborough's wonderful new series Frozen Planet came to an end on BBC last night with a warning from the presenter that global warming is continuing to have profound effects on the polar regions of the planet. Despite the beautiful imagery, it was somewhat depressing stuff!

To lighten the mood, a remarkable montage of clips from BBC Natural History programming was played after Frozen Planet with David Attenborough voicing Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World to great effect. Enjoy! There is already internet mumblings about a Christmas Number One single.

My Robot is Better Than Your Robot

The Rap Guide to Evolution

Canadian rap artist Baba Brinkman has created the Rap Guide to Evolution. Supported by the Wellcome Trust, the music videos are now online and make for some interesting listening. You can judge for yourself whether you think they are useful teaching tools.

The videos are based on the successful theatre show 'The Rap Guide to Evolution', which was performed to critical acclaim at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

On the launch of the videos, Baba said: "The response to the show so far has been overwhelming, but these videos really take it to the next level. I hope educators all over the world find them helpful in overcoming the indifference and hostility that often impede the teaching of evolution, and science in general. Hip-hop music is all about rebellion, and no one's ideas are more revolutionary than Charles Darwin's."

The Rap Guide has been described as "astonishing and brilliant" by the New York Times, with Science magazine adding that Baba "marries the fast, complex, literate delivery of Eminem with the evolutionary expertise and confrontational manner of Dawkins".

The first in a series of twelve videos (two of which are currently available) is presented above. The remaining videos will be released over the coming months.  Enjoy!

Darwin Opera for Cork

Science and music fans are in for a treat this year in Cork when an 'electro-opera' based on the work of Charles Darwin plays in the Cork Opera House.

Tomorrow, in a year is produced by Hotel Pro Forma from Denmark and is based on ground-breaking music from The Knife, a Swedish music group.

"An opera singer, a pop singer and an actor perform The Knife’s music and represent Darwin, time and nature on stage. Six dancers form the raw material of life. Together with the newest technology in light and sound, our image of the world as a place of incredible variation, similarity and unity is re-discovered", according to the show's website.

"The opera presents an image of Darwin that above all reminds us that the world is a place of remarkable similarities and amazing diversity. That over time - tomorrow, in a year, or tomorrow, in a million years - change is inevitable."

The music for the opera written after extensicve research of Darwin's letters, articles and books, with one of the members of The Knife attending a field recording workshop in the Amazon to find inspiration and to record sounds.

The Guardian described the opera as an event "that baffles and beguiles in equal measure".

Tomorrow, in a year plays at Cork Opera House on the 24th and 25th of June 2011 as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival.


An excerpt from Tomorrow, in a year:

More on the Sun!

Insprired by the Frog Blog's excellent post on the Sun earlier today, I've been reminded of the excellent work of 'They Might Be Giants'.

The American band behind hits like 'Birdhouse in Your Soul' (come on...I'm not the only one who remembers it!) also do excellent songs for kids and particularly science songs and videos.

Their 'Here Comes Science' album is full of catchy tunes.

TMBG's first attempt to explain how the Sun works was very catchy, but somewhat flawed in a scientific sense. So much so, that they decided to update it with a new (though less catchy) song on the latest album.

My Secret Life: A teacher affects eternity

My latest guest post for PBS NOVA's Secret Life of Scientists blog is now online. This week's episode features theoretical physicist and jazz saxophonist Stephon Alexander talking about his love of music and how he was inspired to become a scientist.

You can read the post and watch the episode here.

Rap for Science

Second-level students in Ireland are being invited to rap about science as part of a nationwide competition being run for Science Week (7-14 November).

The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) at University College Cork are seeking budding rapper/scientists to compose a rap based on this year's Science Week theme: Our Place in Space". An iPad is on offer for the winner.

Entrants must video their performance and upload it to the APC's Youtube Channel by November 3rd 2010. Full details area available here.

Take a look at an example of one of last year's winning raps:

Choir Sings Their Own DNA

The London premiere of a new choral work in which singers sing parts derived from their own genetic code will take place tonight (July 13th) at the Royal Society of Medicine.

Allele, composed by Michael Zev Gordon will be performed by the New London Chamber Choir.

It is part of a Wellcome Trust-funded project called "Music from the Genome". In tandem with the production of this piece, Dr. Andrew Morley is conducting an investigation into the genetic determinants of musical ability.
The DNA of 20 choral singers (including some from the singers tonight) was compared with DNA from 20 non-musicians. Preliminary results will be announced at tonights event.

Dr Andrew Morley said, "Both parts of the project directly address genetic complexity. The music is stunning because of this but, correspondingly, those looking for a simple answer to the question 'what makes us musical?' will be disappointed. The genetics are so much more complicated than a single 'musical gene'. What is already apparent, though, is that genetic polymorphisms influencing our musicality may also affect aspects of our personality, specifically our altruistic tendencies."

For the new composition, 40 singers will each sing individual parts created using a sample of their own DNA by turning the varying order of the four bases (A, G, C, T) into musical patterns.

You can hear a preview of the new composition taken from rehearsals here.