Rapper’s Delight

There are a lot of different ways to teach biology. You can lecture, give quizzes, hand out worksheets. You can put students into groups and have classroom discussions. Or you can rap to them.

That is what one Standford biology professor, Tom McFadden does. With lessons like “It’s Too Late to Apoptize,” (a parody of Timbaland song “[It's Too Late to] Apologize”) and “I’m Going Back to Plasma Membrane” (from Notorious B.I.G.’s hit “Going Back to Cali”), McFadden makes biology, if not “cool”, then definitely more fun. Check out ”Regulatin’ Genes” (a parody of Jay Z’s “Money Ain’t a Thang”) to see for yourself.

“In the video,” McFadden describes, “they have so much money that they flip through it, throw it up in the air, throw it out of moving vehicles. Since we just had midterms, I’m projecting some wishful thinking in the video – that there are so many A+’s on the midterm that we can just throw them in the air.”

Next up on McFadden’s set list? “You Can Do It” by Ice Cube. He’s planning to rewrite it for his neuroscience class, to teach the biology of the brain. And if his success thus far is any indication—“Regulatin’ Genes” has now received more than 50,000 views on YouTube—McFadden can definitely do it.