There's this new show on the G4 channel, and I'm going to have to go all Phil Plait on it's ass for a moment.
The show is called "It's Effin Science" and it's been advertised very widely on my satellite service provider, Dish Network. They try and give it a Mythbusters look, with "cool", "hip" sciencey nerds blowing things up, etc. My kids and I love Mythbusters, so I finally watched part of an episode the other Effin night.
Awful. So awful, in fact, I am compelled to warn people that watching this show will actually reduce your intelligence.
First off, one of the science nerds "built" spy glasses with a mini digital camera in them, recording to a mini SDCard. Oh, so cool…
And I can get one for under $50 at www.meritline.com. They've had these devices for several years now. www.thinkgeek.com carries them too…
Next up, a science nerd built a radio control car with a pan and tilt camera that wirelessly transmits to the base station. He used it to patrol a house to find the other science nerd, who was hiding under a bed. Wow. How exciting. Not exciting enough for me to go to Target and buy a pre-made car like this, though.
Oh, and when I say built, I'm not talking about an Adam Savage-like sequence where science nerds injure themselves welding or make clever jokes while scavenging parts. I mean they presented an item to the camera and claimed to have built it.
But the final Effin' straw for me came between segments, when they asked viewers what would kill you first in a vacuum: Cold, Radiation or explosive decompression? Their answer was explosive decompression. Yeah, maybe on Star Trek. Or Futurama.
What would actually kill you is your lungs rupturing- and this is assuming you jumped out the hatch, holding your breath. Human bodies WOULD NOT explode in a vacuum. Don't believe me?
The only redeeming thing that Effin' Science has going for it is that one of the nerds is Chad Zdenek, from G4′s Human Wrecking Balls. I don't like Chad, but seeing him reminds me of the awesomeness of Human Wrecking Balls. Good memories there.
My final spin on Effin Science?
Effin avoid it.
It is obnoxious when shows and organizations whose task is to inform do such a bad job with it. The question itself is kind of misleading. One does not have to go through explosive decompression to enter a vacuum (although it is the most likely way to enter one and still be alive.. for the moment). We do apparently blow up to about twice our normal size. If that’s the goal, vacuums are expensive to create, McDonald’s is cheap… just sayin’.
I do remember my teachers asking me questions like this in school. But the goal was to get you thinking and then there was a fairly in-depth session after about each possible answer and why they were right or wrong. Sounds like these guys nodded off early in that class…
Thanks for the heads-up. If I ever watch television again, I’ll miss this one.
I saw this show before I thought it was an interesting new twist on mythbusters
The fact they put “Science” in the title means it should be a scientifically accurate show. If they just wanted to rip off the destructiveness of the Mythbusters, why not call it “Blowin’ Sh*t Up!” or something.