Examine Dragons

I'm sweeping off the dirt and dust
I wield a trowel and I use a brush
I'm checking in the specimens

We're clocking out, packing up, then heading back in a microbus
This is it, archaeologists
Whoa

I'm in the lab, I drill into the bone
Enough to keep my error low
Wonder what's its true age, what's the true age
Gonna find the true age, find its true age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, it's radiometric, radiometric
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, it's radiometric, radiometric

It's in your food, don't you know,
It's a different carbon isotope
It soon decays to nitrogen
Whoa

I'm cutting off, grinding up, reducing it to a graphite dust
Send it to the spectrometrist
Whoa

It makes you up, we find it in your bones
And leaves and shells and thatched-roof homes
Helps us find the true age, find the true age
Calculate the true age, learn the true age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, it's radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, you're radioactive, radioactive

One way to know when something died:
The ratio of carbon nuclides

It's breaking up, it lets electrons go
Enough to turn a neutron pro
Helps us find the true age, find the true age
At least within a date range, specific date range
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, it's radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, we're radioactive, radioactive