Commonwealth Club of California features Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, Hosts of the TV show “MythBusters.” They share their secrets and reveal what happens behind the scenes of their extremely popular science program.

Stars of the hit TV show “MythBusters,” Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage addressed a packed house at The Commonwealth Club last Thursday night. On the show the daring special effects masters employ basic elements of the scientific method to test the validity of the gamut of common rumors, myths, movie scenes, internet videos and news stories in popular culture. Dispelling everything from the notion that elephants are afraid of mice, to the theory that running in the rain helps one stay dry, to instructing viewers on how they might survive an airplane crash or escape from a sinking car, “MythBusters” has become one of the most widely viewed programs on the Discovery network, garnering a tremendous cult following.

NPR’s “Tech Nation” host Moira Gunn moderated the talk and began by asking the two men if they viewed themselves as scientists. Hyneman and Savage, who both live and work primarily in the Bay Area, agreed that rather than scientists, they see themselves as “curious, like dogs after a scent. We definitely don’t know more than you do,” replied Savage, who pointed out that he only has a high school diploma.

The conversation then turned to Hyneman and Savage’s pre-”MythBuster’s” career, which includes a stint as contestants on “Robot Wars.” Their robot, “Blendo,” became notorious among fans for being one of the fiercest competitors in the show’s history. “The first time we turned it on, it sliced through the wall of sandbags that was protecting us,” Savage explained. Because of the robot, they “acquired an aura of badness,” he continued. And, more important, they caught the eye of the future producer of “MythBusters.”

After producing a successful demo, Hyneman and Savage began taping the TV show at Hyneman’s shop, located at the base of Potrero Hill in San Francisco. Though fans have shown concern that the hosts will run out of myths, the men assured the audience that there are enough to produce entertaining episodes for years to come. When asked what they have learned about blowing things up, as they so often do, Savage lightheartedly replied, “Any day you don’t die is a good day.”

As Gunn began fielding questions from the audience, the conversation turned to what the men enjoy most about the show. “The most thrilling thing about doing what we’re doing is what goes on in our heads,” Hyneman said. And as the years wear on, Savage says, they are getting better at spotting risk and avoiding it. “If you see us on the street and we’re running, do your best to keep up,” Savage joked.

The discussion concluded with the men describing the impact the show has had on their lives, as well as the lives of their fans. Though they didn’t set out to make an educational show, they take pride in the response they have received from children and adults alike. Inspiring children is “the most humbling aspect of what we do,” Savage stated.

“Mythbusters” Build Team—Kari Byron, Tory Belleci, and Grant Imahara—visited Meyer Sound’s Berkeley headquarters as part of their quest to verify the claim that a Russian-made SKS rifle could be set off by the vibration of a high-powered subwoofer.

“Mythbusters” often calls on Meyer Sound when it comes to investigating audio-related myths. The show, which features a team of five special effects and science experts who put some of the most outrageous urban legends to the test, has turned to Meyer Sound to prove or debunk such popular claims as a duck’s quack not echoing, the human voice breaking glass, or the existence of the dreaded “Brown Note.”

While the “Brown Note” episode called for modifying electronics to accept frequencies well below the normal operating range, this time the test involved four of Meyer Sound’s 600-HP compact high-power subwoofers. Two subwoofers per side were stacked in Meyer Sound’s six-inch thick concrete isolation chamber, and driven far beyond their typical usage patterns, well beyond pain threshold.

“This was an interesting episode because we were tasked with moving a physical object with a substantial amount of force, using vibrating air (sound) to move a piece of metal (the firing pin),” explains Dr. Roger Schwenke, Meyer Sound’s staff scientist. “We used a lot of different signals in a wide range of peak-to-average ratios, from sine tones and sweeps to pink noise. I worried about somebody opening the chamber door at the wrong time and hurting our ears, but at no time was I worried about hurting the speakers.”

In the end, yet another urban legend fell by the wayside as the attempts to move the firing pins with sound waves were unsuccessful. “The only way air was going to move something with that much mass is if we could build up energy over several cycles,” Schwenke concludes. “That’s fundamentally what a resonance is, when energy from one cycle adds coherently with the energy stored from previous cycles. What’s great about this episode is that we got to demonstrate this simple principle: In order to have a resonance you need a mass (the firing pin) and a restoring force (like a spring). No spring, no resonance, no displacement from equilibrium. Myth Busted.”

Season 7, Episode 9
Prison Escape

Adam and Jamie see if it’s possible to cling to the roof of a speeding and swerving car like it’s done in action movies. Kari, Tory and Grant t they try to break out of jail by cutting their way through steel cell bars — using only dental floss. Did an 18th century prisoner once put his ball and chain — shackled to his ankle — in the prison cannon and fire himself over the prison wall to freedom. Is it possible?

Download “Prison Escape” Episode Free

The seventh season of MYTHBUSTERS will begin on Wednesdays at 9PM ET/PT beginning April 8 with a two-hour Demolition Derby Special. The season will have ten all-new high-definition episodes of MYTHBUSTERS that will air in a row.

Still hosted by Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, and build team members Tory Belleci, Kari Byron and Grant Imahara, the April 8 two-hour Demolition Derby Special episode, MYTHBUSTERS tackle four fables of automotive mayhem. Adam and Jamie test whether a key scene from an iconic motoring movie is fact or fake film physics – could moving the passengers to one side of a bus stop it from rolling in a sharp, fast right hand turn?

Then, they revisit an early MYTHBUSTERS fan favorite involving two trucks and a compact car – and of course, rockets and high explosives. Meanwhile, Kari, Tory and Grant take on Hollywood as they look at four familiar chase scene clichés to find out if they match up to reality, and then test a gravity race seen in a popular car commercial.



Download “Mythbusters” Episodes Free