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Post by Cybermortis on Feb 19, 2013 18:32:44 GMT
Not sure how many of you watch the TV show Bones, but I was wondering A; How many of you there were. B; If a 'Bones Special' would appeal to anyone and C; If people had any myths from the show they think might make for good testable ideas for Mythbusters.
The reason for asking was that I was watching one of my Bone's DVD's and realised that many of the experiments they've done on that show could be duplicated on MB - In fact the 'style' of their testing is in many ways rather similar at times, such as testing to see if a body that is frozen in liquid nitrogen would shatter if dropped. They did this on Bones using a turkey, freezing it and dropping it from the second floor of their lab...where it bounced off the floor and hit their boss in the face.
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Post by PK on Feb 19, 2013 18:47:47 GMT
I used to watch it regularly, although I don't think I've seen a first-run episode in a couple of years.
Personally I think there is plenty of material for a special episode. I seem recall one "myth" from the show that was suggested many times on the old site: something about setting off an airbag in a buried car?
I don't recall the turkey episode, but they've done quite a bit of other Mythbuster-style testing.
I think, however, that if MBs did a special they should limit it to the questions that are answered as part of the show, and avoid the "accepted facts" aspect, even if they are far-fetched (such Angelas 3-D rendering programs).
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Post by WhutScreenName on Feb 20, 2013 16:45:43 GMT
My wife, daughter and I watch the show and like it. It's fun. I can think of one 'myth' right now from a very recent episode, maybe even the most recent one here in the US. So if you watch the show and haven't seen the newest episode yet, DON'T read ahead as this is a SPOILER ALERT.
In the show someone was shot (intentionally not saying who just in case some didn't heed the warning) and no bullet was found. However, the person had an allergic reaction to a blood transfusion. It was determined that a blood bullet (with a different blood type) was used to shoot the person. It wasn't a regular gun, but a tube with a compressed air can that was used to propel the bullet.
Myths: 1) could a frozen blood bullet from an air cannon enter but not exit the body? 2) would the small amount of blood from such a weapon cause an allergic reaction like the one in the show? There very well may be other myths form this, but these are the ones I think of right off the top of my head.
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Post by unavailable on Feb 20, 2013 16:55:19 GMT
My wife, daughter and I watch the show and like it. It's fun. I can think of one 'myth' right now from a very recent episode, maybe even the most recent one here in the US. So if you watch the show and haven't seen the newest episode yet, DON'T read ahead as this is a SPOILER ALERT. In the show someone was shot (intentionally not saying who just in case some didn't heed the warning) and no bullet was found. However, the person had an allergic reaction to a blood transfusion. It was determined that a blood bullet (with a different blood type) was used to shoot the person. It wasn't a regular gun, but a tube with a compressed air can that was used to propel the bullet. Myths: 1) could a frozen blood bullet from an air cannon enter but not exit the body? 2) would the small amount of blood from such a weapon cause an allergic reaction like the one in the show? There very well may be other myths form this, but these are the ones I think of right off the top of my head. I think that plot device, frozen blood bullet, was used in a Charley Chan movie back in the '40s. |
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Post by WhutScreenName on Feb 20, 2013 16:58:20 GMT
I think that plot device, frozen blood bullet, was used in a Charley Chan movie back in the '40s. Wouldn't surprise me at all. While I enjoy Bones and like how they test things, many of the things they do are not new. But they typically try to look at them in a new light. During the episode, they tested ice bullet, and came to the same conclusion MB did. In fact, they seem to come to the same conclusions as MB's do on things they share a lot... perhaps some of the writers of Bones are fans of MB as well  |
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Post by unavailable on Feb 20, 2013 17:03:11 GMT
I watch it quite often. The TNT channel on cable runs 4 or 5 consecutive episodes at least twice a week in the afternoon. Being retired and living alone, I don't have a lot to do until the evening when it's time to hit happy hour at the locaL bar.
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Post by Cybermortis on Feb 20, 2013 17:44:56 GMT
Season 6, 'Blackout in the Blizzard' generated two ideas that got posted on Discovery.
In the episode Washington suffers from a blackout due to heavy snow fall (hence the title). As they have a victim who had a dangerous illness they need to find the killer before they can infect the city, but they have to improvise as they don't have access to any of their normal equipment (or even computers).
In the first case they need to x-ray the victims bones, which they manage to do using a vacuum chamber, rolls of sticky tape and polaroid film.
In the second they need to check the victims cell phone, but the battery is dead and none of the phones the crew have is compatible. Taking high-school science fair projects to a new level they wire hundreds of potatoes together to create an organic battery. This gives them just enough power for just long enough to allow them to get the call history from the phone. (Trying to avoid making some joke there about 'when the chips are down...')
Season 2's episode 'Aliens in a Spaceship' is the episode PK was talking about earlier.
In this episode Brennan and Hodgins are kidnapped and end up buried in a car under a quarry. They are able to use the limited equipment they have in the car to work out where they are, get that information to the rest of the team and manage to partly escape - getting a helping hand as the rest of the team turn up in enough time to help them get free. They also manage to increase their air supply beyond what was contained in the car;
Hodgins, who is an expert on soil and dirt, manages to run some tests on the soil they are buried in that allow him to work out where they are. However while they have a cell phone the battery is missing. The cars battery is still working, so Brennan works on wiring the cars horn up to the phone. Hodgins notes that this will burn the phones circuitry out within a few seconds, but they manage to work out a very quick message that Hodgins is able to text and send to the rest of the team before the phone dies - this leads the rest of the team to where they are so they can help dig them out at the last moment.
To increase their air supply they manage to cut their way into the boot, and punch a hole in the spare tire. Would the average car tire contain enough air to give two adults an hour or more of additional life?
Likewise, Hodgins is able to mix several chemicals they have in the car - I can't recall everything they use, but lithium from the battery of the camera they have was one of them - to create oxygen for them.
The last part, and the part PK was talking about, is how they escape. Brennan takes the explosive charges from all the cars airbags and sets them against the windshield. Getting into the back of the car, they set the charges off. According to Brennan (who admits to not being an explosives expert, and that she is basically guessing) the cars dashboard *should* help focus the blast into the windshield, and if they are not buried too deeply this should give them a way out*. (Hodgins quips that either the plan works and they escape, or it will turn their brains to mush and they can run for congress).
They trigger the blast as the rest of the team are looking for them, which allows them to see where the car is buried. They are able to run over and help pull Brennan and Hodgins out of the ground - after they have presumably managed to dig their way out of the window and to within a foot or so of the surface.
(*Quite why they didn't just open the passenger window and try to dig their way out is not explained. We know that the windows work because the first thing Brennan does when she wakes up in the car is open the drivers window....)
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Post by PK on Feb 20, 2013 17:48:49 GMT
OK, that brings it back. I was also recalling the makeshift O2 generator, but I couldn't remember if it was from Bones or something else.
And although I didn't see the "Blackout" episode, I do recall numerous requests for the sticky-tape xray bit on the old site.
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Post by Cybermortis on Feb 20, 2013 18:06:05 GMT
Blackout is one of the best Bones episodes, although it helps if you have some idea as to events in earlier episodes. It also helps explain some aspects of the character plots later in the season. While this is very much a 'bottle show' (they used only five sets in the episode, three of which are/were the standing sets and only one other actor with any lines), they manage to mix the serious and comedy elements perfectly.
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Post by mrfatso on Feb 28, 2013 16:34:58 GMT
Season 6, 'Blackout in the Blizzard' generated two ideas that got posted on Discovery. In the episode Washington suffers from a blackout due to heavy snow fall (hence the title). As they have a victim who had a dangerous illness they need to find the killer before they can infect the city, but they have to improvise as they don't have access to any of their normal equipment (or even computers). In the first case they need to x-ray the victims bones, which they manage to do using a vacuum chamber, rolls of sticky tape and polaroid film. I remember it asked for several times just a s PK says, but it is a real experiment. www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/news.2008.1185.htmlCould be done on Mythbusters quite easily |
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Post by Cybermortis on Feb 28, 2013 17:17:53 GMT
Thanks for the link.
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Post by OziRiS on May 17, 2013 23:39:01 GMT
New Bones myth where they actually refer to earlier MB results:
Dr. Brennan is shot in the stomach while examening some skeletal remains. She doesn't see the shooter or the weapon because she's wearing magnification headgear, blurring anything that's far away. In the episode you hear a muffled 'puff' and she goes down.
When she's in the hospital, the doctors find an entrance wound, but no exit wound, suggesting that the bullet should still be inside her. They don't find one. Ice bullet thinks I, but wait... MB already busted that years ago...
Turns out it was an evolution on the ice bullet. The shooter centrifuged his own blood to separate the plasma and the blood cells and froze the blood cells with liquid nitrogen to make bullets. Since it was blood, it didn't seem out of place in the middle of a wound trac. Brennan is however close to death, as the shooter's blood type is different from her own and she has an allergic reaction after the operation.
The statement from Dr. Hodgins is that "blood is 3 times more dense than water", which allegedly enables it to actually leave the barrel of a gun and hit a target without melting (a thing we know for a fact to be a problem from an earlier MB episode).
There's a second twist to this as well: Realizing that a regular gun might melt the bullet even if it IS made of blood, the shooter makes an air gun to fire the thing instead of a regular gun.
Questions to be answered:
1. Are blood cells actually 3 times more dense than water?
2. If #1 holds true, will that translate into bullets made from frozen blood cells being able to be fired from a regular gun and cause actual fatal damage?
3. If the shooter was indeed right and #2 proves wrong, then can his method of using a home made air gun be used to circumvent the melting problem and still deliver a fatal blow, or will the friction in the barrel alone be enough to melt the bullet?
4. Will a small amount of the wrong blood type introduced into the body as explained actually cause a person to have an allergic reaction even though the blood isn't introduced directly into the bloodstream, but rather 'deposited' in the abdominal cavity?
This plot comes from season 8, episode 15: "The Shot in the Dark"
Important details to concider:
1. The wound was reportedly consistent with a small caliber handgun like a .22. When testing with a regular gun, this might be significant.
2. When "upgrading" to the air gun, remember that it's an unconventional weapon. The hole may be consistent with the diameter of a .22 cal. handgun, but if it doesn't tumble before it impacts, there's no telling how long the projectile is.
3. Again, about the presumed caliber of the "handgun" they first suspect, remember that they suspect that because of the wound and not because they know what weapon has been used. In other words: The bullet may have started out larger, melted a little (or a lot) and just left a hole the size of a .22. It doesn't have to start out as a .22 to do that. It just has to end its journey as a 22. sized projectile.
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