The Mythbusters are Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, experts in special effects, constructing machinery and complicated robots. The show is dedicated to combining elements of science and technology to determine if certain popular beliefs are true or false.

This includes everything from throwing a frozen chicken against a metal plate to see if a bird in flight can break the windshield of an airplane, to recreating the “Solar Death Ray”, a weapon supposedly created by the Greek Archimedes and designed to set a Roman fleet on fire using only mirrors and sunlight.

They don’t usually get the answers to their questions straight away, something Peter Reese, executive producer of the show is pleased with. “Sometimes the show is better if things don’t go right - a flaw is always an option on MythBusters.” In one of the shows, Jamie and Adam decided to prove if it was true that it is difficult to extract the odour of a putrid animal from a car. They decided to try the theory on a Chevy. Weeks passed, and they still couldn’t get into the Chevy because the odour was unbearable.

No less humorous was the image of the duo when they decided to get sprayed by a skunk to see if it was true that tomato sauce would fight the smell. In addition to these bizarre questions, Mythbusters asks such things as:

• Can a microwave be turned into a bomb by placing metal utensils inside?
• Can eating poppy-seed bread produce a positive result in a drug test?
• Do silicone implants withstand depths and altitudes?

There are multiple questions and many different methods to decipher whether the belief is fact or fiction. If the experiment involves risk, Buster is called to the scene. The mannequin is equipped with sensors, gathers information from the collisions it faces and allows the technical team in the programme to evaluate the possible damages that would have been suffered if there were human beings in the same situation. For example, could you use a life boat as a parachute? If an elevator suddenly falls, can you save yourself in the nick of time by jumping just before it hits the bottom? The Mythbusters are not afraid of any of these challenges!