I seem to recall that that “myth” was found in the pages of the Weekly World News. So, obiously, they knew it wasn’t a legitimate urban myth, they just thought it would be fun to try and build a human slingshot themselves. And it was one of the more entertaining recent episodes.
Skeptic magazine featured “Mythbusters” on its cover a couple episodes ago. There were interviews with Adam, Jamie and one of the producers. I got the impression that they are actually pretty concerned, not so much about scientific accuracy, but about encouraging critical thinking.
And, if they didn’t care at all about the science, they would never go back and revisit myths that they knew they hadn’t gotten right the first time. That’s actually one thing I really like about the show (aside from the explosions and Buster-abuse). If they get enough flak from fans, they start over from scratch and try again.
I’m not a regular viewer of the show, and that was the first time I got a chance to feel superior by pointing out the error of their methods. In the poison oak segment, they* poured* the control and the vodka onto the infected arm, but rubbed in the commercial ointment.
I love the vodka myths. Don’t get me wrong, I love the “lets blow up some stuff” myths also. Yes, the science of a lot of what they do is horrible and seems to actually be getting worse not better. However, it’s a great show.
The vodka myths are wonderful. There is a ton of material out there that is easy for them to bust or confirm and it’s entertaining and interesting stuff.
I loved when they used a Brita filter on cheap vodka and had an expert be able to tell exactly how many times the vodka had been filtered. That confirms what I’ve always believed. Good vodka is worth the price!
I agree that they are running low on material. But, just because something seems completely silly in a movie doesn’t mean it’s not possible. They’ve had a few interesting surprises on things like this.
If I ever find myself on an airplane that’s crashing without a parachute, I’ll try the old “Indiana Jones fall safely to the ground with a emergency raft trick”. Who would have thought that this could actually work?
About the science aspects of the show: I’m an archer, so I was especially cringing during the recent shows about archery. They didn’t try nearly enough things. There are dozens of different kinds of bows, releases, arrows, etc. They tried a couple and were quick to start claiming “busted”. However, true to form, the show more than made up for the bad scientific method with the cool stuff like slow motion camera shots of an arrow in flight. I already knew, logically, that is how arrows flew. But to actually see it was very cool.