Rare Isotope Rap

June 15, 2009

She's baaack! AlpineKat (a.k.a., Kate MacAlpine), that is, who gave us the Large Hadron Rap last year -- currently viewed by over 5 million people on YouTube, and still counting. This time, she busts a rhyme over the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a new project of the DOE being bult at Michigan State University in East Lansing. MSU hosted an event this past week to celebrate the future of rare isotope research, and AlpineKat was on hand to debut her new rap in full HD version: three elevated screens 14 feet across, augmented by a cutting-edge sound system.

This is the way physics rap was meant to be experienced, I'm sure, although YouTube is still the best way to reach a massive audience. Here's what MacAlpine had to say last year in Symmetry Magazine:

I think rap is a good way to communicate. Rhyme has always helped embed words in my mind; hopefully science rap can help cement ideas in the minds of students and other interested people. “Nerdcore” has been on the Web for a while, fusing “nerdy” from the cultures of video games and hard science with the “hardcore” of rock and hip-hop.

Check out the cameo appearance of Brad Sherrill, chief scientist of FRIB and a distinguished professor of physics at MSU -- who has a little fun wagging his bushy eyebrows mischievously at the camera.

In the case of FRIB, there's precious little material on the Web that isn't either highly technical, or, well, exceedingly non-specific -- what is it about DOE Web copy that puts a reader to sleep faster than Proust's Remembrances of Things Past? But give them time: FRIB is a brand new facility, after all. AlpineKat's Rare Isotope Rap is a welcome summary of what the project is, how it works, and why we should care about studying rare isotopes.

Rare isotopes are short-lived nuclei not normally found on Earth, and as AlpineKat raps, scientists still don't understand why some isotopes are stable while others decay. Investigating this myster could reveal clues about the life cycles of stars and the birth of the elements -- most of the heavier elements (everything except hydrogen, helium, and a bit of lithium and other light atoms) are the result of supernova explosions). Some of these rare isotopes could also lead to better diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, so it's not just all about esoteric, space-age science.

People keep asking MacAlpine about possible record deals, and she's pretty realistic about those prospects: "I don't think that'll be happening any time soon." And that's just fine by me. The music industry's loss is physics rap's gain. Five million YouTube viewers blows most record sales out of the water.