If there was Nobel prize for “Best Brainy Hip Hop Video,” it would probably go to Tom McFadden, a former teaching assistant for Stanford's Program in Human Biology. In the music video “Synaptic Cleft,” his student rap group explains how neurons in the brain communicate with one another across gaps called synapses - breaking down the discovery made by the newly announced winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Thomas Südhof, MD.
McFadden, who is an eighth-grade science teacher now, uses music videos to help get kids hooked on science. In his blog, he recently wrote:
I used to make science raps for my students at Stanford. Now I help kids of all ages make science history battle raps. By bringing music, history, humor and video into science, I'm hoping to get students as fired up about the material as I am.
Many of his raps have become monster hits among science nerds. In fact, John Tierney of the New York Times was so impressed that he wrote about them in his blog entry “Rappin’ for Science.”
To watch other science videos from McFadden, visit his webpage.
Previously: Stanford’s Thomas Südhof wins 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine, New music video from science rappers at Stanford and Science: The musical
