Happy Father's Day - Dad Facts

The American Museum of Natural History has made some cute Father's Day trivia cards on animal daddies. Check them out:

My dad gave me piggyback rides. These kids get froggyback rides!

Redefining what it means to be the dad. And the mom!

This dad-bird is the dad-word

Here are some of my own father facts:

• Mufasa was a great dad to Simba in The Lion King, but unfortunately that wasn't very accurate. According to Wikipedia male lions "tolerate" cubs. Sometimes a male cub will want to rule the pride like Simba did. In order to do this the cub will have to grow up strong and then kill every other male lion including his own daddy. (source)
• Have you ever been a clone of your father? Organisms that reproduce asexually like bacteria share the same DNA as their father/mother/parent. They are their dad. Or their dad is them. Or they are their great-great-grandfather... Look they're different, okay? That's cool.
• Some animals never meet their dad, let alone their parents. Reptiles, insects, and fish will never get this chance. Does that make them lucky or unfortunate?
• Wolf daddies rock. If their offspring could give them Father's Day presents they'd be getting the wolf equivalent of a new lawn mower or power tool. They guard their pups and give them freshly killed meat, which is something few animals dads let their offspring get. (source)
• Out of all the dads in the animal kingdom I will still defend my position that human fathers are the the most interesting. Maybe I'm biased, but think about this: we are basically the only animals species that have a chance at sharing a close relationship with our father throughout our life. Other species may live in a group consisting of all their relatives including parents, but once an animal reaches maturity their parents don't interact with them. Our parents may never stop being parents. We can look to them for advise our entire life and, something else that's unique in the animal world, we come to give them help, too. Humans are social animals and we have the strongest bonds with our parents.

But all this talk of a "good" animal dad or a "disinterested" one is pretty irrelevant. You are a human. You can't judge what's good or bad for a species based on what works for your own. It seems like an obvious point, but it's important to understand that a species behaves in a certain way because that's what has brought success in their environment (natural selection anyone?). Parenting is no different. Insects do just fine if they've never interacted with their parents and look how long they've lasted (hundreds of millions of years to be exact).

However there is one thing no organism can live without if it wasn't for their dad: half their genome. When fertilization occurs, a new living thing is created out of the DNA of their mother and the DNA of their father. There are, as always, exceptions but this is the basis of being alive. So at the very least, on this Father's Day thank your father for the genes he gave you. Without them you wouldn't be you.

Science and Math; Songs and Music

It's not very common for math and science to transcend the textbook into mainstream music. There's YouTubers like Coma Niddy, who use comedy and music to teach lessons every high schooler is going to search for on YouTube to make studying easier. A genre of music called "nerdcore" has artists like MC Frontalot and MC Hawking who mix hip-hop and science theories usually in parody-form (my favorite is "Fuck The Creationists"). But these feel like novelties used for comedy, entertainment, teaching, and usually all three rather than an emergence of a new age of science-based pop culture that everyone can appreciate. Any musician can sing about dancing, parties, love, and relationships and any audience can relate and enjoy. But I can't think of an artist that has seriously discussed science without the intent of humor or education. I don't think there's anything wrong with those kinds of songs, but I'd just like to see them become accepted by mainstream audiences to bring about a culture that considers science to just be a general topic to talk about.

For now, however, I'll admire the artists that have used science as at least metaphors and devices for word-play in their lyrics. But the question still remains if these songs are popularizing science or trivializing it still.

 

Science and Math in Songs and Music from carboncutie on 8tracks Radio.

Some selected tracks on this mixtape include:

"She Blinded Me With Science" - Thomas Dolby
This classic is guaranteed to show up on most 80's party playlists, but it belongs on this one simply for its references to chemicals, geometry, machinery, and, of course, science. Dolby uses science to describe that primal feeling we get when an especially attractive person gets closer and closer and we can't help but give into science! Special mention goes to the mad scientist, Magnus Pyke, who yells "SCIENCE" throughout the song. Remind me to yell "SCIENCE" whenever I sing.

"Mathematics" - Little Boots
The first line of this song should ring true to a lot of people: "Mathematics is a difficult thing," but Little Boots' use of math as a representation for love is also dead-on. They're both difficult and hard to figure out for sure. Her use of terms like calculations, subtracting, dividing, and finding "correct solutions"  regarding hearts and souls are so perfect for relationships. I especially love her reference, "Don't know my Fibonacci or Pythagoras" and how she pretty much makes up her own formula for her relationship: "when we're together in the sum of our parts; it's more greater than what we added up to at the start." Did Pythagoras ever think a girl would be making pop music referencing his theorem?

"It's More Fun to Compute"- Kraftwerk
This band of electronic pioneers are the go-to group I listen to when I think about the future. They are science and technology in music form. While the lyrics don't have much to offer in terms of science-references (there's one line repeated in a robot voice: "It's more fun to compute"), the group's contribution to science is its popularization of electronic music, a genre that has created engineers and innovators. Electronic music is the music of the future and Kraftwerk's imagery and soundscapes involving robots, computers, and technology has remained unique to every genre. 

What do you think about math and science in mainstream music? Should it stay in the lab or become apart of our creative lexicon? Do you know any songs that truly make an effort to explore science in an imaginative way?