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Sometimes it's hard to understand difficult science concepts unless we sing about them.

I mean, the song we're going to play, if this existed in my freshman year of high school,

it would have been an incredible godstand for my grades.

It's Wednesday, December 4th, and it's also Science Friday.

I'm sci-fri producer Kathleen Davis.

In 2009, the band They Might Be Giants released an album called Here Come Science.

In it, they sing about the science of plasma, talk about what blood does in the body,

and they sing an ode to the elements.

In this archival segment from 2009, Ira Flato is joined in studio by members of the band to discuss the album and play some songs.

Joining me now in the studio here in New York is John Linnell and John Flansberg, also on the drums, Marty Bellar, in the background.

We'll be playing a lot of music. Welcome to Science Friday. Thank you. It's very exciting to be here. Why would you do songs about science? I mean, long time. It's like suddenly like we're inside the TV set or the radio.

It's kind of trippy.

Were you sciencey geeks when you're in school?

Not exactly, no.

I mean, it's actually a little bit of a stretch in a way for us to declare ourselves to be authorities on science.

This is the Peter principle in full bloom. Yeah, yeah. And you're

stepping into a little quagmire by naming a song, science is real. There are a lot of people who don't

believe science. Well, I see, that's not controversial for us. Not for you. No, no. But have you

heard any reaction from people who say, well, why is well? Well, you know, I don't think

judging by YouTube flame comments, you can really get an accurate gauge of what the...

In general, it seems like people are actually quite positive about the whole prospect.

...