Hi, I'm Lindsay. And I'm Marshall.
And this is Tumble, the show where we explore stories of science discovery.
Today, we're changing our tune to explore songs of science discovery.
Did you know you could learn about science through songs?
Today, we're celebrating our first ever album release with a celebration of original Tumble science songs.
So let's hit it. Ba -dum -bum.
Okay, so Tumble Science Songs Volume 1 is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all the other awesome streaming services like QuoBuzz.
What's QuoBuzz? Did you know about that?
It's real. You can also buy it on Bandcamp if you want.
There are links to listen in this episode description.
And also, if you're on Spotify, I'm using this cool feature where you can say, included in this podcast and just like click on an album.
It's pretty cool. And in this episode, you're going to hear all the songs.
Plus, we're going to play a fun game to introduce each song that you can play along with at home or in the car or wherever you are.
So Marshall, tell me, why did we make an album of science songs?
Don't we make a science podcast?
Yes, we do. And one of of the things we do that is pretty special, or at least I think so, because I'm the one who does it, is that all of our music is totally original for each of our episodes, started from scratch. And usually I'll make music with like scientist sounds or inspiration from the subjects that we're talking about, or cultures or the people and places.
And sometimes we're so inspired by the stories that we put words to the music and make like a whole song.
All right, so I put together some fun guessing games to introduce each song.
Marshall, are you ready?
I suppose so. All right, so the first song is How Do You Catch a Happy Cappy?
And it's inspired by our episode Why Are Cappy Baras So Big?
Which, if you've heard it, you know it tells the story of a scientist named Santiago Herrera Alvarez who had to come up with a way to catch a wild capybara to get its DNA, and it turns out they're pretty hard to catch so here's my question for you if each of these animals was able to maintain its top speed in a race who would win a capybara a rat or a guinea pig wait okay so this is like assuming that they can maintain their top speed the whole time there's no speeding up to like get to so they're just like and no saying it doesn't matter that a guinea pig is absolutely not running as far i guess
yeah although i had a guinea pig and it sprints pretty fast okay um well wait so basically this is just asking like who's got the fastest top speed a capybara a rat or a guinea pig yes and in your mind line it up in an adorable race of rodents okay and is it like a hundred meter dash or is this like a mile race it does not matter how long the race is assuming it's just at top speed all things being equal we'll say from the place where you find them eating crumbs to the hole where they uh get out of your house that's that's the race can you imagine if you came down to your kitchen and And there
was a capybara, a rat, and a guinea pig all standing there eating your bread.
And they've also got adorable race jerseys on.
Yes. OK. I'll be like, that's OK.
You can have the bread.
OK. Well, I just feel like this can't be the answer because otherwise it wouldn't be a question.
But the capybaras are so much bigger than the other two animals.
I just feel like the longer legs have to make them faster.
So that's what I'm going to say.
But that can't be right.
So you're saying a capybara?
Yes. You are right!
It is a capybara. One source I came across says that they can reach speeds up to 10 miles an hour if they're feeling threatened, which they probably are when...
When you come down to the kitchen and are like, don't eat my bread!
How'd you get into this house, you giant animal?
Meanwhile, rats and guinea pigs are also pretty fast movers, but they top out around five miles per hour or eight to nine kilometers per hour.
Okay. Well, so yeah, I guess this wasn't a trick question because otherwise I think it would be obvious.
The bigger animals can run faster because they got longer legs.
Yep. Even though they're pretty heavy, they are speedy.
All right. Well, let's go ahead and hear the song, which by the way, when I wrote, I wanted to sound like it was potentially Colombian.
So it's got kind of a reggaeton type of feel.
I hope you like it.
And so fast A scientist in the llanos of eastern colombia Had a question of them to ask How do you catch a happy cuppy?
A giant rodent zips and zappy How do you catch a happy cuppy?
A giant cuppy, ba da How do you catch a happy cuppy?
A giant rodent zips and zappy How do you catch a happy cuppy?
a giant copy potty!
He thought he might just try and catch some So he could find out why they're so big But even with help it was hard to get one Because they're sneaky and so quick So how do you catch a happy cappy?
A giant boat and zips and zappy!
how do you catch a happy cappy giant cuppy all right that was a fun one i can't stop singing the chorus of that song you'll catch me around the house just being like how do you catch a happy cappy be.
That was the idea. And if you want to see the awesome music video that Marshall made to go along with it, check it out on our YouTube channel that will be linked in the episode description as well.
Yeah, great video. I made it myself.
Okay, so what's next?
Up next is a song about butts.
Specifically, it's about a sea creature called a comb jelly and its mysterious anus.
that's true so here's a question about weird sea creature butts which of these sea creatures can shoot its intestines out of its own butt is it a a christmas tree worm is that real Yes.
That's a thing. Is it B, a sea angel?
Also real. Yes. Okay.
Or is it C, a sea cucumber?
Okay. So believe it or not, I actually know the answer to this question.
And I know the answer to this question, because well before I met you when I was in college, uh my roommate and i nick wrote a song about this what wait this has to be a secret track um turns out this was not the uh only weird sea creature but that marshall's ever been inspired to write a song about yeah i've written lots of um i've written lots of songs that were silly um Um, but this one was about, it was called Herman the Sea Cucumber.
So it's sea cucumbers because the, the end of the song was when he gets upset, he shoots his intestines out at you.
I don't remember how the melody went.
I need to know the melody.
Maybe I should get in touch with Nick and see if he remembers.
We also wrote a song about a suckerfish.
We were all about the sea creature songwriting So it is a sea cucumber Fun fact about Marshall He was president of a fish club Indeed I was Alright so you got it The answer is sea A sea cucumber The sea cucumber doesn't want you to mistake it for a vegetable And if you try to eat it It will shoot its intestines out of its butthole at you Alright Okay so this song was actually co -written by me and Lindsay, as well as our erstwhile engineer Eric Kuhn, and sung by Erica Fink.
Eric and Erica have a band called That, Eric and Erica.
So you should check them out too, because they make some amazing music, especially you parents.
But anyway, here's the song, The Sometimes But.
but could be the tool for you lots of creatures never find they don't really mind when they have to poo simply opening up and creating a butt and that's what they all do sometimes it comes on but later it's gone Out like a light when you need the blue Oh, it's a sometimes fun That's what some creatures do It's there when you need it When you've been feeding But gone in a flash after you've made a poo It is found on Calm Jellies And it could be a clue To how the second hole Began to break through Cause it's a sometimes But there we need to do Sometimes it comes on But later it's gone Out like a light
When you need the loo Oh, it's a sometimes But that's what some creatures do It's there when you need it When you've been feeding All right.
I like to regard Sometimes But as our most classic song and biggest hit because it's been played on the radio a couple of times.
That's true. I feel like that was the first song that we wrote together where you wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music.
And since then, we've done quite a few.
Yes, and actually when I first heard Eric's version of the song, I felt like I had made every decision right in my life if it led me to this point.
Yeah, you actually started weeping.
I did cry. I love it.
Okay, so our next song is about a kind of touchy subject on this podcast, cats.
All right, here we go.
All right, so because we know our listeners have lots of opinions about cats, I went for a very neutral cat question.
Are they evil? Yes or no?
Answer yes. No, stop it, Marshall.
As I've said in our Spotify comments, which, by the way, I personally read and respond to to every single one.
So if you leave us a comment, I will see it.
Um, being evil doesn't mean you can't be a great cuddly pet.
All right. I can already predict the comments.
I hope you change your mind, Marshall.
Okay. All right. So this song imagines the first cat that decided to start living with a human.
And according to a recent scientific paper, which place is the place that it is most likely where humans started living with cats?
Is it A, ancient India where Vedic literature mentions cats as domestic companions?
Is it B, ancient Egypt where people worshipped cats?
Is it C, ancient Rome where cats replaced weasels as the chosen animal to keep rats out out of the house they thought cats were cleaner they probably are or is it d ancient china where they've found evidence that cats lived on ancient farming sites well okay so in the song i mentioned ancient egypt which you know you should mention the the inspiration for the song is the fact that that cats probably domesticated themselves, which I think if we know cats, makes a lot of sense.
It is sure that cats domesticated themselves.
It's very hard to study exactly when this happened, but we know that humans didn't go out and domesticate them.
We didn't decide to bring them home.
They were like, I'm here now.
This is my house. Give me food.
And humans were like, okay, I guess.
I guess, guy. All right.
um so anyway um i will so i'm gonna throw out ancient rome because ancient rome is uh significantly it happens significantly later than ancient egypt and i'm pretty sure they were already doing the cat thing by the time rome was even founded um and i'm gonna throw out china too because china is a lot more recent than egypt as well and you know i think i'm going to stick with what i said in the song and say ancient egypt and it comes down to india versus egypt and you're choosing egypt yeah because i mean egypt is just like egypt was around for like thousands of years before we even think of like
like ancient times as beginning like egypt was still like really old and like there were there's like history from like 2000 BC, where they're like, oh, yeah, like, cats are the best. Yeah.
Yeah. Yes. So you're relying on your history knowledge for this science question, which is also brought into the scientific paper.
And you are absolutely 100 % correct.
It was ancient Egypt.
A new paper says that Egypt was the first place that encouraged cats and humans to be living together.
Although Although it may have been for a little bit more spiritual reasons than you mentioned in the song.
I'll bet, though, they still had that thing happen where they were petting the cat in their lap and the cat suddenly got sick of it and scratched them and ran away.
Yeah. I'll bet that happened to at least one ancient Egyptian.
This is a song about a cat.
Maybe in Egypt a cat first lived with a man.
It ate all the mice so he decided to keep it But then all his troubles began This cat you see was an ordinary cat And cats weren't meant to be tame But because of the mice the guy decided to keep it And this became his sole refrain Oh Mr. Cat I provide you with food A nice house and a warm bed I always treat you so nicely And I've never been rude I give you milk and I scratch your head The first day after the cat had arrived It sat on its new owner's lap This is nice, the man thought I like this new pet And that's when he got his first scratch Ow, he said I thought we were friends But the cat just
stared and stared Well, that's it, he said I won't pet you anymore But it wasn't clear the cat even cared Oh, Mr. Cat, I'd provide you with food A nice house and a warm bed I always treat you so nicely You've no cause to be rude But you're only ever mean instead Oh, Mr. Cat, we should be The closest of friends And sometimes I think You feel the same But then you attack me And you puke on my bed And then I know That you'll never be tamed When word got around about how effective the cat was.
Everyone wanted one.
They got rid of the mice and people all thought that that was something they needed done.
In a matter of years, every house had a cat some even had two or three.
But there There was one drawback to this little plan So everyday people would scream Oh Mr. Cat I provide you with food A nice house and a warm bed I always treat you so nicely Don't give you cause to be rude But you're only ever mean instead Oh, Mr. Kaku, I wish that you liked me I wish you'd stop playing this game But instead you just scratch me and you pee on the sheet I know that you'll never be tame I know that you'll never be tame I know that you'll never be tame Tumble is brought to you with support from IXL Learning.
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Do you believe in ghosts, aliens, mothmen, sea monsters, or curses?
Or do you think most mysteries can be solved by looking at the actual evidence?
Bust or Trust is a kids' mystery podcast that puts you, our chief detectives, at the heart of the action.
We search the planet to bring you baffling, fascinating and mesmerising mysteries then present you with the best evidence and most interesting facts.
So you can examine it all and tell us what you think.
I'm Athena, our resident Mythbuster.
And I'm Tiernan, our resident Mythtruster.
We'd love you to join us on Bust or Trust, a kids' mystery podcast. Every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and all other places you listen to podcasts.
All right, so cats had to be studied when they were mummified from ancient Egypt, but we've got our next song about fossils, which is like unintentional preservation.
All right, yeah, so this song goes along with our dino map process, which you can find on nepm .org slash dynomap, where you can explore all sorts of dinosaur footprint sites in the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts, which is all along the Connecticut River in Western Mass.
All right, so here's my fossil quiz.
It is two truths and a lie.
So I'm going to say two true statements in one false statement, and you have to pick out which one is false.
Got it. Okay. Okay, so the first one is the largest dinosaur fossil footprint ever found was discovered in Australia and it measures 5 feet 9 inches or 175 centimeters.
Okay. Okay, the second is the largest dinosaur coprolite.
You know what that is?
That's dino poop. ever found was discovered in China and it weighs 20 pounds or nine kilos.
Oh my gosh, that's a big turd. That's a big lewd.
And the last one, the largest dinosaur ever discovered was found in Argentina and scientists estimate it weighed 70 tons or 70 ,000 kilos while it was alive.
okay well which one is false which one's the lie so two truths and a lie um i feel like the third one refers to the argentinosaurus which is the biggest dinosaur ever or land dinosaur land animal i don't know um ever found and i think 70 tons does seem like a reasonable weight for that so i'm gonna say c is true um or the the third one is true um so then it's just like kind of up for grabs like does it make sense that there could be a fossil footprint that's as big as me i think so i think that does seem reasonable and it also makes sense that a fossilized turd from a giant animal that might weigh 70
tons uh could weigh 20 pounds i I mean, that's a pretty reasonable amount of poop for an animal that's that big.
So I'm going to say, let's just say the footprint, that you're lying about that, that that footprint's too big.
Wrong! I'm lying about poop.
Oh, my first incorrect one.
You were on such a good streak.
I know. You should have known I would have made something up about poop.
I guess that would be in character.
All right. So here is the song.
It's called Color, Shapes, and Patterns, and it's all about how you can identify fossils in rocks.
There we go. Colors, shapes, and patterns Gotta know where to look If you wanna talk about where dinosaurs walked And see the past they took Colors tell you what kind of rock You know some rocks, they used to be mud Paying attention to the color and tint Can help you see just what it was there's colors shapes and patterns you gotta know where to look if you want to talk about where dinosaurs walked and see the past they took shapes tell you if there's more to the story can you see a footprint or track ripples and waves might tell you even more about what happened ¶ And way, way back ¶ There's
colors, shapes, and patterns ¶ You gotta know what you see ¶ If you wanna talk about where dinosaurs walked ¶ And where their fossils might be ¶ Putting it all together, you might notice ¶ A pattern tells you what might have been ¶ Seeing patterns in the rocks and fossils is really where you want to begin.
There's colors, shapes, and patterns.
You gotta know what you see.
If you wanna talk about where dinosaurs walked and where their fossils might be.
Colors, shapes, and patterns.
You gotta know where to look.
If you wanna talk about where dinosaurs walked And take the path they took Colors, shapes and patterns Colors, patterns and shapes Colors, shapes and patterns Colors, patterns and shapes Woo!
Alright, do you know where to find some dinosaurs now?
Or at least what to look for?
I hope so so if you want to know more about the stuff we learned that inspired that song just check out the dinosaur map at nepm .org slash dino map you can also check out our episode about dinosaur footprints called how were dinosaur footprints made it's is that actually the right title i'm I'm not sure.
Anyway, we did an episode about it.
You can find it. Okay.
So the next song is part of a series we did called Life Lab, which explained the science of synthetic biology or, going by its other name, biological engineering.
Yeah, I did this in a collaboration with my friend Basho, whose group Basho and Friends does really amazing music for kids, especially bilingual stuff for Spanish and English learners.
So you should go check that out if you want to learn either Spanish or English.
Yes. So the song has a very different vibe than everything else, but it is a lot of fun.
So the quiz. Okay. Which is not a product made with the help of synthetic biology, which means that there are engineered microbes inside of it.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Is it A, impossible burgers?
Definitely synthetic biology.
Okay. Wait until I do all of the choices.
Okay. Okay. Is it B, petroleum?
Okay. Like what we use to fuel up our cars?
Exactly. Okay. Or petrol in British terms. Petrol.
Hmm. Okay. C, cheese.
Okay. Or D, many, many medicines and vaccines.
scenes i feel like this is a trick question what yeah because i mean impossible burgers are definitely made with engineered microbes that's where they come from right isn't it i'm not gonna answer until you give me your final answer i like the song itself is all about um being able to make fuel?
I don't know if it's exactly petroleum, but okay.
I mean, I feel like they all can be made with the science of synthetic biology.
So I'm going to go ahead and say petroleum gas.
I think that's my only guess.
You are right. It's petroleum because petroleum is not made with synthetic biology, but synthetic biology could help find alternative fuels to replace it and other byproducts from petroleum, which are in everything from plastic to makeup.
Okay, all right. Well, all right, let's give this song a listen featuring Basho of Basho and Friends.
synthetic biology programmable dna rewriting the genetic code of organisms in order to solve real world problems what does that mean we start with the factory emitting gas burning coal burning oil smoke we'd rather not have it's warming up the planet in a dangerous way so we must address it now yeah we gotta start today but what can we do we need energy too we gotta get from here to there but also be there too and it's true not me or you not even with the giant crew gonna glue the sticky goo that we pump out in the blue or can we what if we could reprogram bacteria to fight climate change Hmm,
check it out CO2, a greenhouse gas It's heating up our atmosphere way too fast But we could stop it using science as you well see With the process that we call synthetic biology We can program some bacteria to make them eat gas Turn those cells into machines that will eat the gas fast But it gets better cause you see Eating gas is not enough With what's left when they're done We can make some good stuff After these hungry bacteria eat the CO2 gas, what's left over can be used to make new, useful things like fuels, fabrics, and packaging.
Dang. I specifically made the backing track of that song for our Synthetic Biology series.
It's like the Life Lab theme.
I love that theme. It's so good.
It's really a banger.
I did a great job. Go me.
Yeah. Go me. go Marshall is all I can say all right so this last song is a real throwback at least for me being with the podcast the whole time um this was one of the earliest songs that you wrote about Pluto getting kicked out of the solar systems by a bunch of really mean astronomers at a meeting where they got together and talked about Pluto behind its back Right.
Did they also kick out some scientists while they were at it?
Some scientists left angry, who were really good friends with Pluto, and didn't at all like the other meanies in the meeting.
But their decision stood, and that's why you made a song called There Are Eight Planets in the Solar System.
Because that's right.
There are now eight planets.
Used to be nine. Yeah.
Okay, so here is my question about Pluto.
Okay. How many Earth years make a year on Pluto, the time it takes to orbit the sun?
Is it A, 42 years, Earth years?
42 Earth years is one Pluto year, okay.
B, is it 151 Earth years?
Interesting. Or is it C, 248 Earth years?
Those are my three options?
Yep. Yep. I mean, I'm just going to take the biggest one, because Pluto's really far away.
So 248 years. That's what I think.
You are absolutely correct.
All right. Look, I've gotten almost all of them right, except for that one, which I don't even remember now.
What was the one I got wrong?
You know, it's water under the bridge.
So 248 Earth years means that Pluto has not finished one time orbiting the sun since we humans discovered it all the way back in 1930.
Still working on a year old.
So we discovered it like less than one Pluto year ago.
Yeah. Not even like a half a Pluto year ago.
You know, Pluto has an incredible secret to stay young, and that's be really far away from the sun. So if you can get hundreds of millions of miles away from everyone you know, you may never age.
So that is how time travel.
I guess. This is true.
If you can get 100 million miles away in like a split second by going the speed of light, you will never age.
Yeah, we did an episode about that, too.
Well, anyway, let's hear how little Pluto took that big hit back in 2006, which from its point of view is like only a couple of days ago.
Well, there are eight planets in the solar system There are eight, but there used to be more There are eight planets in the solar system There are eight but there were nine before For thousands of years since old Babylon We knew all about the first six Thought they orbit the Earth Well, we got that wrong Until we met Copernicus Well, there are eight planets in the solar system There are eight, but there used to be more There are eight planets in the solar system There are eight, but there were nine before By the 20th century, we discovered all eight And lots and lots of moons besides That's when Clyde
Tombaugh found Pluto A new planet grew the list to nine Well there are eight planets in the solar system There are eight but there used to be more There are eight planets in the solar system There are eight but there were nine before In 2005 we discovered something that made us Reconsider all that we do A distant object more massive than Pluto Made people wonder what to do So in 2006, the International Astronomical Union made an important distinction.
Based on the new information, the experts decided that there needed to be a new, formal definition of planet that included bodies as small as Pluto.
And now, there are eight planets in the solar system.
There are eight, but there used to be more.
There are eight planets in the solar system.
There are eight, but there were nine before.
There are eight planets in the solar system.
There are eight, but there used to be more.
There are eight planets in the solar system There are eight, but there were nine before There are eight, but there were nine before There are eight, but there were nine before All right, well, I still think Pluto should be a planet just for sentimental reasons.
I know it's not science, but I love it anyway.
I guess, but did you even listen to the song did you did you internalize the lesson which is that we need a new definition of planet if it's going to include pluto um because there's just so many things in the solar system that are like that i think we should invite it in while we're working that out okay fair enough fair enough all right well that is our entire album and all of this all of the quizzes that i made up and good job Bob Marshall, we would love to know how you did if you played along at home.
Yeah, yeah. And you can leave comments on this episode on Spotify and we can and will respond.
I read every single comment and I respond to it.
I don't always do it right away.
Sometimes it takes a week or two, but please leave comments.
I will respond and we will read them.
Yeah, tell us which song was your favorite and then you can go off and listen to it as many times as you want.
Yeah, so you can listen to this album wherever you stream music, so Spotify, Apple Music, wherever.
And if you want to support us, you can buy it on Bandcamp by going to marshallfromtumble .bandcamp .com.
And it'd just be great to have your support there or if you just want to stream it, that is also fine with me.
I just love the idea that people are listening to this music.
Yep, and share it with your friends.
if especially if you show up to their house singing one of the songs and they're like what are you singing well anyway we will be back soon with more stories of science discovery thanks so much y 'all for listening and now that brings us to the part of the episode where we do our patreon shout outs so let me just get my patreon shout out music going here all right well so before we get started with our birthdays we've got some new patrons to shout out to rishiv diego mariana and pablo thanks to all of you and also mariana it is your birthday a happy belated birthday on june 30th mommy and poppy
love your curiosity and tenacity and we also have some more birthdays coming up in the next two weeks a happy belated fifth birthday to To Edie Lynn, you're a little spark of joy and we all hope you had a good one.
To Gem, mom loves you and is so proud of what a creative and curious person you are.
Keep exploring and happy birthday on July 12th.
To Pearl, a happy birthday on July 14th.
Keep being curious, creative, and kind.
To Kai, happy birthday on July 15th.
Mommy, mama, Jasper, Fiona, and your whole family love you very much. To Etta B, you fill your mom and dad's life with joy and I hope you have a happy birthday on July 17th.
Thanks to all of you and to everyone who supports Tumble on Patreon.
If you want to get a birthday shout -out of your own like these fine folks, simply support Tumble on Patreon at the $5 level or higher by going to patreon .com slash tumblepodcast. Or if you're on Spotify, just tap the subscribe button.
So once again, that's patreon .com slash tumblepodcast or tap the subscribe button on Spotify.
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