Biology Class Produces "Modern Rap Opera"

January 18, 2007

Four student actors in the rap video, illustrating the process of cellular respiration

When science instructor Tony Maranto challenged his Advanced Biology class to produce a video on cellular respiration, giving them just one week, he never imagined the result: a rap masterwork that clearly lays out the process of cellular respiration, step-by-step.

"The entire video is very clever," said Maranto. "The students took an important point – the role of oxygen in cellular respiration – and wove it into an adventure odyssey in which the main character, an Exeter student, is searching for that information. The cleverness is that the whole process had to be described in order to get to the last step of the quest, the role of H20." Maranto added, "It could be considered a modern rap opera."

The students worked independently, surprising Maranto with the finished product. Starting from a blank slate, they developed the script, music, costumes and action. The script is irreverent, but always relevant and accurate. Here are a few snippets: "chemistry is all about the quid pro quo" and "cellular respiration is glucose's demise."

The video, which Maranto has shown in his basic biology section, was produced on the heels of a visit to campus by Dr. Daniel Koshland '37, this year's recipient of the John Phillips Award. The students were so impressed and inspired by Koshland, former editor-in-chief of Science magazine, former head of the biochemistry and molecular biology department at UC-Berkeley, and one of the primary researchers on the Manhattan Project, that they dedicated the 30-minute video to him.

And what was Dr. Koshland's reaction to the video? "This video should put cellular metabolism on the map," he said, "along with break dancing and blogs as the new craze. I was glad to be mentioned, not convinced it makes me a rap star, but comfortable to add it as a new honor," he added.

View the rap finale, which recaps the entire video…

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Read about Dr. Daniel Koshland…

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