I must be the last guy on the planet to see this judging from the emails I’m getting, but the music group They Might Be Giants has put out an album called "Here Comes Science", and it has this very cool video called Science Is Real:
Nice! Catchy, too. The album is technically for kids, but I suspect a lot of grownups will like it too. And I know a lot of teachers read this blog… so you know what to do.
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The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
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September 10th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Aha, first! Good album…and I’m a grown up. I still have to say it when somebody says “Istanbul” …now Constantinople!
September 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Show this in my beloved state of Texas and you would surely be kicked out on your ass. There is no such thing as science here, only religion. Majority rules, you know. If you don’t believe then you are nothing. No one will talk to you, you can’t get a date, you are just SOL.
Thank you Jesus!
September 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Its not their first stab at science… They do a catchy jingle about the Sun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbgul1NpEA8
September 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Well, of course here in Texas many will claim that science *is* a religion — just not the right one.
Well, I’m not sure which part of Texas you are from, but here in Austin it’s not quite that bad!
September 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
TMBG previous album, here come the 1 2 3′s has a few amazingly deep songs, including “There’s Only One Everything.” And of course they did my favorite astronomy song….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbgul1NpEA8
September 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
2nd album I have purchased on Itunes! TMBG are awesome, and the entire album is equally great!! (FYI, first album I purchased on iTunes was Flobots: Fight with tools, another great album actually worth purchasing!)
September 10th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I particularly liked the one about the elements…. where did i put that link..?
oh it’s on youtube.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Oh man, I can imagine some kid singing this song in front of their fundamentalist parents after class.. controversy ahoy!
September 10th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Particle man, particle man.
Doin’ the things a particle can.
What’s he like? It’s not important.
Particle man.
Is he a dot, or is he a speck?
When he’s under water does he get wet?
Or does the water get him instead?
Nobody knows.
Particle man.
Triangle man, triangle man.
Triangle man hates particle man.
They have a fight, triangle wins.
Triangle man.
Universe man, universe man.
Size of the entire universe, man.
Usually kind to smaller men.
Universe man.
He’s got a watch with a minute hand, millennium hand and an eon hand.
When they meet, it’s happy land.
Powerful man.
Universe man.
Person man, person man.
Hit on the head with a frying pan.
Lives his life in a garbage can.
Person man.
Is he depressed or is he a mess?
Does he feel totally worthless?
Who came up with person man?
Degraded man.
Person man.
Triangle man, triangle man.
Triangle man hates person man.
They have a fight, triangle wins.
Triangle man.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
TMBG brings the science! YAY!
September 10th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Brilliant! I like how they talk about how they enjoy the fairy tales but know when to put the science hat on to understanding reality. That’s such a simple message that really needs to be communicated to the public.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Perhaps we should be playing this instead of the national anthem. Adults can be in need of science more than kids…at least they get it in school. Here are two comments from CBC this morning in regards to H1N1:
Headline: Vaccinate kids early to fight swine flu
Story comments (69)
Sort: Most recent | First to last | Agreed
Randy Lahey wrote:Posted 2009/09/10
at 6:47 PM ET
“Why is the headline telling us to kill our kids?”
nwo-never wrote:Posted 2009/09/10
at 6:40 PM ET
“Amish people don’t get Autiism or Asthma. Weird because they don’t take vaccines either.”
September 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Triangle Man kicks a**!
September 10th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
@13
I want to know what happens when Triangle man fights Universe man! @_@
September 10th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
My 5yo boy wanted to see this several times after I showed him, and he kept singing “Science is re-re-re-real!” all morning.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
See I told you it’s your new favorite song!
September 10th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Sorry, not impressed. Considering the dedication of the creationists, they’d better come up with something better than this. How about a basic cable channel dedicated to elementary school kids that has documentaries and entertaining quiz shows, etc., all focused on science of all kinds. Oh wait. There’s probably no money to be made. Nevermind.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
[...] fusion of some of my favorite things as much as I did. [1] I originally discovered this at the Bad Astronomy blog. [...]
September 10th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
AWESOME!!! I love it why didn’t they exist when I was a kid???
September 10th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I’ve been a TMBG fan for 20 years and this is long overdue. Awesomely awesome stuff. Be sure to check out the video for “I’m a Paleontologist”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7zo2zY1Zqg
September 10th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Perhaps getting TMBG to a TAM isn’t out of the question?
September 10th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Cute!
September 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
TMBG is the awsomest of awesome bands. Another 20 year fan here.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Ha! I just found TMBG’s self-correction of the outdated “facts” in their remake of the vintage song, “The Sun Is A Mass of Incandescent Gas” called “The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwroUEJVVmA&feature=related
September 10th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
They’ve got an answer song to “Why Does the Sun Shine?” on the new album. It’s called “Why Does the Sun Really Shine?”
They explained why they did this in a segment on Studio 360 from this summer.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
New video for Meet the Elements http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0zION8xjbM&feature=fvhl I love the song, so catchy.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Promoting a love of science by brainwashing kids through catchy tunes is completely and utterly socialist!
September 11th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Great videoclip & song!
They do get their galaxies confused though – the one at 41 secs in is Messier 51, the Whirlpool galaxy and not our Milky Way as the lyrics “..from evolution to the Milky Way..” seem to imply! That’s my only very minor nit to pick with though.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Much appreciated. How bizarre it must seem to the rest of the developed world that we feel compelled to defend science.
September 11th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Check out the prism refraction at 1:48. The light goes through sideways, and the red is refracted more than the violet. OK, it’s a cartoon, and they’re riding unicorns.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:23 am
[...] BoingBoing is the host of the latest video from They Might Be Giants‘ Here Comes Science (H/T to the commenter on Bad Astronomy). Meet the Elements, just like the other videos from this album, an animated [...]
September 11th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Those videos are very cool. I’m going to have to show them to my 6 year old son. Especially the Dinosaur one. He’s been on a dinosaur kick for awhile. We saw the Walking With Dinosaurs live show a few months back (I highly recommend it if it comes to your town) and he went to dinosaur camp over the summer.
Now The Jim Henson Company is producing his new favorite show: Dinosaur Train. The setup is that a family of pteranodons (and adopted T-Rex son) ride a time-traveling train to learn about different species and time periods. Along the way, the kids come up with theories about different things (like how the plates on stegasaurus’ back cool him down) and they test them out. Sometimes they are right, sometimes not.
This fits in nicely with another Jim Henson favorite of his: Sid The Science Kid. I highly recommend both programs for parents with young children. As a science-loving parent, it’s always nice to see science-based shows available for kids.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:35 am
@artbot,
It looks like they not only included “Why Does The Sun Shine?” (the “incandescent gas” song) on this album, but right after it comes “Why Does The Sun Really Shine?” where they sing:
The sun is a miasma
Of incandescent plasma
The sun’s not simply made out of gas
No, no, no
The sun is a quagmire
It’s not made of fire
Forget what you’ve been told in the past
(Plasma!)
Electrons are free
(Plasma!)
A fourth state of matter
Not gas, not liquid, not solid
The sun is no red dwarf
I hope it never morphs
Into some supernova’d collapsed orb
Orb, orb, orb
The sun is a miasma
Of incandescent plasma
I forget what I was told by myself
Elf, elf, elf
(Plasma!)
Electrons are free
(Plasma!)
A fourth state of matter
Not gas, not liquid, not solid
(Plasma!)
Forget that song
(Plasma!)
They got it wrong
That thesis has been rendered invalid
September 11th, 2009 at 11:27 am
My copy of the CD/DVD just came in the mail… I mean my KID’S copy just came in the mail… but since it came to my office I’m listening to it first… The Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space) is brilliant. I’m trying to find the link where one of the Johns talked about having an “actual scientist” help them vet the songs for accuracy. The album is put out on Disney Music… which means I might have to forgive the mouse for inflicting Hannah Montana on the world.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Wow! It looks like quite a few TMBG fans here. I’m another of those 20 year fans. We have most of the CD’s and my kids love them (11, 13 & 15 years old). Listen to them on all our long car trips.
Jim
September 11th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
They hired Eric Siegel from the New York Hall of Science:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/08/they-might-be-giants-here-comes-science/
September 11th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Great video.
Cue parents pulling their kids from class, only to inspire those same kids to go out of their way to see something they wouldn’t have cared much about, any way. Thanks idiot boycotters!
September 11th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
[...] was once called Constantinople September 11, 2009 — Richard They Might Be Scientists: [Via Bad Astronomy] I must be the last guy on the planet to see this judging from the emails [...]
September 14th, 2009 at 5:04 am
What a terrible song and what terrible singing. If any child needs a song like this to help them understand the world, we’re already screwed.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I understand they did this intentionally.. but I really didn’t see the need for comparing angels to unicorns and calling them simply stories. Evolution and belief in God/religion need not be mutually exclusive concepts. Nobody wants to be looked down upon for their beliefs and I hate to say it, but this video does have smidge of that in it. I really liked the song/video otherwise.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:10 am
[...] 11.09They Might be Giant Scientists Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxFollowing on from my post a few weeks back about Here Comes Science – the CD of Science songs from the band They Might be Giants, here’s another song from the CD. (via @BadAstronomer). [...]
May 13th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
I rememeber the song on one of the Tiny Toon cartoons. It’s still a toon I carry in my head since then.
November 30th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
@ND Promoting a love of religion through catchy tunes is completely and utterly socialist!
You realize that forcing kids to go to church and read the Bible is brainwashing them 100x as much as a 2 and a half minute song? You hear the Christian Rock bands? They brainwash kids.
So next time before posting your one-sided views fueled by your love for slamming a Bible into your face until all your brain cells are replaced by verses of the contradictory “holy book”, please, do it somewhere where anyone with the knowledge of both sides will never. EVER BE!