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Mythbusters is a testament to what good television can be, and it may be a good test for how to better educate people.

While it may not be applicable for every subject, many young students could gain a great appreciation for science just by watching this show once a week. With their resolve to never be satisfied with assumption or rhetoric, the shows hosts (all of them) teach us how good science is done.

We learn that science is all about the reproducibility of results and the notion that every theory is there to be attacked and questioned. But, most importantly, we learn that no one scientist is immune to the peer review of their, well, peers.

One of my favorite aspects of the show is their willingness to respond to their viewers criticisms. Not content with the norm, the shows producers decided that even when they do a clip show, the content will all be new. But, more than just being a great way to recycle old content, this also shows us how a very important scientific principle works. We can never stop questioning results, even our own.

But, perhaps more important than any of this, is the amount of fun these guys and girls have with everything they do. While it's clear that they are very serious about safety and their commitment to solid data sets, we can also see people just having a good time making quality television. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, the team will first replicate the myth, and if they myth turns out to be physically impossible, they will do everything within their considerable skills to replicate the RESULT of the myth. This, as you may imagine, usually involves a very large amount of pyrotechnics.

I think that this show should be a part of the science curriculum in every high school in the world. Clearly, translations will suffice for non-English speaking countries.

Learn more about this author, Carter Fort.
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