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Friday virtual mixtape: I am a (mad) scientist

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


The first time I felt like a real scientist was when I started working in a neurobiology lab for the first time as an undergraduate. Running experiments, wearing a lab coat, and working with my hands to apply the things I'd learned about in my classes were all thrilling and novel experiences.

So at the end of my first semester, I responded to all the gushy emotions by making everyone in my lab a science-themed mix CD. Yes, I even nerdy enough to print out the tracklisting in a dot matrix font.

This post last month on "The Best Pop Science Song of All Time," contains a couple of these gems, but for the weekend, I'll leave you with a modern version of my mix CD culled from Youtube videos.


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1. The Dandy Warhols - I am a Scientist

2. Blackalicious - Chemical Calisthenics

3. Freezepop - Science Genius Girl

4. The Aquabats - The Cat with Two Heads

5. The North Atlantic - Scientist Girl

6. Atom and his Package - Lord It's Hard to be Happy When You're Not Using the Metric System

7. Tom Lehrer - The Elements

"This might seem useful to some of you someday in a bizarre set of circumstances."

8. The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist

9. Robots in Disguise - She's a Color Scientist

10. Oingo Boingo - Weird Science

11. The Ex Models - She Blinded Me with Science

I couldn't find a online link for this song, but trust me when I say this noise cover of the proceeding Dolby hit is INTENSE.

12. Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me with Science

13. The Zanies - The Mad Scientist

This one is well worth the listen.

14. MC Hawking - Entropy

15. Ladytron - True Mathematics

16. Mirwais - Disco Science

17. Professor Pez - Rocket Science

Another song that I sadly could not locate online.

18. Rilo Kiley - Science vs. Romance

19. The Hacker - Scientist

Again, couldn't find this song online, but here's another from the same artist that serves a similar purpose.

I hope you enjoy listening to and watching these as much as I did reliving my science-music nerdery from long ago.

About Princess Ojiaku

Hey there! I'm a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin Madison in the Neuroscience and Public Policy program. I'm also a musician who played in two bands in North Carolina, one called Pink Flag and another called Deals. My personal passions are science, music, and cycling as transportation.

I got into science as a kid while tagging along and watching my mom do experiments in her lab. I found that while I loved science, I didn't want to be alone in an ivory tower, crunching data that few others would understand. I also noticed that many other people thought science was this scary and incomprehensible entity of obscurity. When I realized that there were people working to make science fun and accessible to everyone, I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do. The two things I find the most immensely interesting and continually impressing are music and neuroscience, so these are the topics that I'll focus on in my blog. Philosophy and politics are my second loves, so I might pop in an occasional post on these topics as well. Ultimately I am here to share things that give me wonder. I hope that reading Science with Moxie gives you a bit of that wonder too.

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