The New York Times has an article about one of my favorite shows: Mythbusters:

Mr. Hyneman and his colleague, Adam Savage, are the hosts of "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel. It may be the best science program on television, in no small part because it does not purport to be a science program at all. What "Mythbusters" is best known for, to paraphrase Mr. Hyneman, is blowing stuff up. And banging stuff together. And setting stuff on fire. The two men do it for fun and ratings, of course. But in a subtle and goofily educational way, they commit mayhem for science's sake.

As the name implies, the program tests what the creators call myths, hypotheses taken from folklore, history, movies, the Internet and urban legends. Can a skunk's smell can be neutralized with tomato juice? Did the Confederacy come up with a two-stage rocket that could strike Washington from Richmond, Va.? Can a sunken ship be raised with Ping-Pong balls? Could a car stereo be so loud that it would blow out the windows?

Mr. Hyneman and Mr. Savage, who produce Hollywood special effects and gadgets for a living, come up with ways to challenge each thesis and build experiments with a small crew. If fire and explosions or, say, rotting pig carcasses happen to be involved, well, that's entertainment.

In fact, we were just watching this show the other night. There was the requisite explosion - one of their biggest so far. The fascinating thing was that you could actually see the displacement of air, the shockwave, captured on camera. And then watch as Adam says, "Here comes the shockwave" and their shirts slightly move from the blast miles away.

I guess it says something about me that two of my favorite shows, "Good Eats" on FoodTV and "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel are thinly disguised science shows.

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