Mythbusters 12/1: "Bug Special" (or, Myth-bug-sters?)

[Christopher]

Bees lifting laptop: This is a silly one. The video is obviously faked; even if the bees could lift a laptop, I doubt it would float so levelly. And the physics doesn't make sense. Jamie explained why toward the end of the episode, but I figured that out by the first commercial. You lift off by pushing against the surface beneath you, so how could that same force be used to lift the surface itself? That's like pushing off against a wall and expecting the wall to follow you.

Not to mention that all those bees clustered together wouldn't be able to get much airflow with all those other bees getting in their way. I just don't see any way they'd be getting much collective lift at all, even if there were sufficient number.


Flies repelled by bags of water: Another bizarre and weak myth. Not much to say here. Why would flies be repelled by water anyway? The whole refraction thing doesn't make sense. Any living thing would logically be attracted to water, because it's something living things need. And the test bore that out.

If there's any way in which hanging bags of water distract flies, it's because the flies are congregating around the water instead of around other stuff.


Lethal bug impact on motorcycle: Eww. I'm just glad they used fake Goliath beetles. Beyond that, I just have one question about their conclusions. They determined that the only reasonable scenario for a bug impact on a motorcycle being lethal in itself is if the impact is against the driver's throat (and if it's a really huge beetle). But presumably any motorcyclist who wasn't an idiot would be wearing a helmet, and from what I saw of the helmet Tory was using, it seemed like it would prevent an oncoming bug from having a line of sight to his trachea. So you'd not only have to be riding at very high speed somewhere in Africa, but you'd have to have your head tilted back to bare your throat. Or else ride without a helmet, in which case you're pretty much attempting suicide anyway.

 

[Brent]

So is Mythbusters about debunking youtube videos now? That and movie stunts?

That seems to be all they do anymore, debunk youtube videos and movie stunts.

 

[Christopher]

Well, they've used up most of the classic myths and folklore, and film and the Internet are among the main sources of modern myth and lore.

And they do plenty other than online videos and movie myths. Of the nine episodes that have aired so far this fall, there have only been three of each of those out of a total of 23 distinct topics.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Were the bees hurt by the glue? I'm not a big fan of insects, but I'm ok with bees and that would really bother me.

 

[Christopher]

Adam said it was a "bee-friendly" glue, though he didn't elaborate on what that meant.

 

[Trekker4747]

Bees lifting laptop: This is a silly one. The video is obviously faked; even if the bees could lift a laptop, I doubt it would float so levelly. And the physics doesn't make sense. Jamie explained why toward the end of the episode, but I figured that out by the first commercial. You lift off by pushing against the surface beneath you, so how could that same force be used to lift the surface itself? That's like pushing off against a wall and expecting the wall to follow you.

My thoughts too. But it's still fun to see them debunk it and explain why it's impossible. So people who've no experience/knowledge of physics can learn.

It was interesting to see them bust this myth and show why it cannot work.

Motorcyclist vs. Bugs: Interesting results but I'd quibble that a hard metal plate isn't going to give as much as your soft, squishy, throat is. Cool to watch though and it cannot be said enough to just how damn-near perfectly hot Kari is. Her in the pink camisole top during the out-door portions of this myth. Oh. My. God.

 

[Christopher]

Motorcyclist vs. Bugs: Interesting results but I'd quibble that a hard metal plate isn't going to give as much as your soft, squishy, throat is.

That's beside the point. The idea is to measure the impact force itself. The plate has to be rigid so that there's no loss of force in transmitting it from the point of impact in the middle to the force sensors on the corners (since there'd be no way to aim precisely enough to hit the sensors dead on). Once you have that raw number, the force imparted at the moment of impact, then you can apply it with an understanding of the biomechanics of flesh; but first you need to get the number.

 

[LitmusDragon]

I facepalmed at the bee myth at first because it was so obviously fake, but there was some really interesting science in their methodology in showing why it wouldn't work so I think it was worth the time to do it. I was surprised at how seamless the monofilament line was in holding the laptop up. Even in high def I couldn't see it.

I think they made an obvious error in the water bag myth- why did they place the bag 3 feet away from the rotting meat? Surely that's not how the myth is supposed to work? I think using rotting meat probably skewed the results as well- who would be using a water bag to protect rotting meat from flies? More likely it's to keep them away from something fresh which would be harder to detect except by vision, hence a greater probability that a visual distraction may be helpful.

I think the motorcycle myth is probably more likely to have been caused by a bird than by a bug. Certainly a bird could easily be as big or bigger than a goliath Beetle.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well the bee-lifting-laptop myth is fairly similar to the myth of keeping half the birds in an "overloaded" truck flying so as to pass weight inspections. Birds, like bees, fly by pushing air down so keeping birds flying in a truck does nothing for the weight because of the weight of the birds is being kept there by the down-force of their flight.

So, yeah, simple logic and physics would "solve" this myth but that's not the point of this show. It's to show people why it can't work. Jamie and Adam, both being very smart men who've done this show for years now, likely knew what the results would be going into this (in spite of the "act" they put on for the cameras) but they showed it and then decided to show us why it cannot work while at the same time showing the feats of a bee's flight-strength. This is like many of the "myths" they take on when a simple understanding of how the world works would solve it. That's not the point of the show.

 

[Forbin]

Cool to watch though and it cannot be said enough to just how damn-near perfectly hot Kari is. Her in the pink camisole top during the out-door portions of this myth. Oh. My. God.

Kari voguing in the gray t-shirt is what got my motor runnin'! What a very nice shape that young lady has!

 

[Trekker4747]

Cool to watch though and it cannot be said enough to just how damn-near perfectly hot Kari is. Her in the pink camisole top during the out-door portions of this myth. Oh. My. God.

Kari voguing in the gray t-shirt is what got my motor runnin'! What a very nice shape that young lady has!

Indeed. Agreed fully.