06x07 - Alaska Special

[bunniefuu]

Please, don't try anything

you're about to see us do
at home.

Ever!

NARRATOR: On this invigorating
episode of "Mythbusters,"

we're turning the heat
on three frosty Alaskan fables.

This is perfect
for an Alaska adventure.

NARRATOR:
Adam and Jamie prove

this is no country
for cold men...

Oh, great.
We got a yeti outside.

NARRATOR:... as cabin fever
takes its toll.

I've just had the worst night of
sleep I've ever had in my life.

NARRATOR: Tory, Grant, and Kari
see if hitting the gas

might lessen the damage caused
by Alaska's scariest roadkill.

And we'll see
if a dynamite-toting dog

really could devastate a drunken
duck hunter's brand-new S. U.V.

Bye-bye.

NARRATOR:
Who are the Mythbusters?

Did you know what was lurking
in your basement?

NARRATOR:
Adam Savage...

I am the fire ninja!

NARRATOR:
...and Jamie Hyneman.

Is that beautiful, or what?

[ Grunts ]

NARRATOR: Between them,
more than 30 years

of special-effects experience.

Wow!

[ Elevator dings ]

NARRATOR: Joining them --
Tory Belleci...

I've been a bad pirate.

NARRATOR:
...Grant Imahara...

-[ Laughter ]
-...and Kari Byron.

Let's do it.

NARRATOR:
They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

That is an iceberg.

It's really cold here,
but it's also really beautiful.

This place has
a mythology all its own.

So we've got a full hour
of Alaska myths.

NARRATOR: Tourism types up here
market the 49th state

as the land of intensity.

It's twice the size of Texas,

so we figure
it's big and intense enough

to handle
some high-impact mythbusting.

[ Dog barks ]

Like most of our favorite myths,

this one involves some
drunken friends and expl*sives.

You got a group
of drunken friends,

one of whom's just
bought a brand-new S. U.V.,

and they all decide

that they want to go
duck hunting with their dog,

except there's nothing around
them but a frozen lake,

and no duck is gonna land
on a frozen lake.

So they need to make a hole.

One of them offers up a stick of
dynamite with a 20-second fuse

to make a big hole

and throws that stick
of dynamite as hard as he can.

I can see what's coming.

The dog,
following its natural impulses,

chases after that
stick of dynamite, catches it,

starts ferrying it
back to the guy,

under the brand-new S. U.V.

Uh-oh!

The dog, the dynamite,
and the S. U.V. go boom!

The S. U.V. goes
down to the bottom of the lake,

and the guy who owned it
is still making payments.

NARRATOR:
This not-so-urban myth

surely stretches the bounds
of human stupidity.

My sympathies are all
with the dog,

though you must admit
it's as funny as hell.

But maybe it's too funny
to be true.

As Jamie and Adam set off
to find their frozen lake,

it's worth noting
that this folktale

is almost as old
as dynamite itself.

ADAM: The first thing
we obviously needed

was a frozen lake.

And the researchers found us
one here in Alaska.

Behind me,
this snowfield you see

is, in fact, Fischer Pond,
a man-made lake,

which means there are no fish
for us to k*ll,

with a nice coating
of rock-hard ice on top.

NARRATOR: The ice on the pond
is too thick to dig through,

and that supports the myth.

But can it support
a 2-ton truck?

Okay, here we go.

NARRATOR: Orson Smith
and his fancy ice drill

should give us a quick answer.

Fans of slapstick
should appreciate

the [Laughs]
breakthrough moment.

ADAM: Whoa!

SMITH:
That's a hell of a thing.

NARRATOR: The ice core cracks up
as it's bashed loose.

SMITH:
Look at that!

NARRATOR: Put back together,
it's a foot and a half thick.

So, it's got vertical crystals

that make it really stronger
than average.

So it's safe for us to drive
our S. U.V. out here?

Yes.

ADAM: Look, this story has
a ton of components to it,

and the first part of it is,

how far can you throw
a stick of dynamite?

Remember, kids,
this isn't real dynamite.

We would never throw
real dynamite,

and neither should you.

All right, Jamie. I want you
to put your chi into this thing.

That's it!

Go!

Nice!

NARRATOR: Jamie's toss is
up over the 1 00-foot mark.

Now it's Adam's chance

to prove he's got the mojo
of the throw, Joe.

[ Laughter ]

Those look to be about the same.

NARRATOR:
Two hefty, manly throws

with an average distance of...

125 feet.

NARRATOR:
Okay, time to bring out the dog.

The myth is about a black lab

that retrieves
a stick of dynamite.

That's what Rudy is.

As you can see,
he's raring to go.

He really wants to retrieve
that stick of dynamite.

NARRATOR: And has no idea
what he's signed up for.

Now we've got to get
another myth started.

[ Moose bellows ]

KARI: Okay, so,
we're in Alaska in the snow.

What myth did we get?

Okay, well, this is
a fairly gory myth

that affects a lot of Alaskans,
but not so many in California.

What's that?

It's about the moose
and what happens

when you hit one with your car.

NARRATOR: This is what happens
when moose meets motorcar,

and it's all too common
here in Alaska.

A low-speed collision
most often ends

with something bigger
and heavier than a fridge

coming right through
your windshield.

The myth says that speeding up
instead of slowing down

might push the unlucky beast
over the car,

meaning you might live
to tell the tale.

Well, obviously we're not gonna
k*ll a real moose

-to test this myth, right?
-Right.

Yeah. We're gonna have to make
our own moose analogue.

NARRATOR:
They'll also have to wrangle

a bunch of stunt cars
and a safe test venue.

But those are problems
for tomorrow.

Right now, they need
to design a moose

that can bounce back
from something like this.

Oh [bleep]

Have either of you
ever seen a real moose?

-No.
-I don't think so.

Maybe we should try to find
a real moose.

That way, we can make
our crash-test moose

as close to a real one
as we can.

NARRATOR: These California kids
have never seen a wild moose,

but they've had a tip-off
from Alaska Fish & Game

to search no further
than downtown Anchorage.

GRANT: Whoa.

TORY:
That's a big one.

NARRATOR: This 1 ,200-pound bull
named Buzzwinkle

is loitering by a two-story bar
called Ernie's Bungalow.

I'm not sure what's weirder --

that the moose is in the middle
of downtown at a bar

or that it's only like 1 :30.

KARI: The legs end
right about where the hood is,

like right where you'd hit.

-[ Laughs ]
-No way.

Look.
He's going to the mall.

NARRATOR:
This mature bull

looks about 6 foot tall
at the shoulder,

but they'll need to get
much closer

to take accurate measurements

for a crash-test
moose simulator.

Cue the Alaskan Wildlife
Conservation Center.

Out here, moose are accustomed
to the ways of men.

Ah! Oh! Oh! Oh!

[ Laughs ]
He's stabbing me!

NARRATOR:
Well, most men.

Let's say we make this moose
dummy out of ballistics gel.

If we hit that with a car,
it's just gonna explode.

-Yeah.
-So we need to get a feeling

for, you know,
what it feels like.

KARI: Well, this is definitely
not a ballistics gel.

-TORY: No.
-GRANT: Is he firm or squishy?

TORY:
He's pretty solid.

I mean, it's like there's hardly
any fat on him at all.

He's got sort of like
the durometer of, like, rubber.

Really dense rubber.

-GRANT: Really?
-TORY: Yeah.

NARRATOR: Seems we need to make
a very dense rubber replica.

And that's something the team
can't do here in Anchorage.

KARI:
We don't even know remotely

how we're gonna get
all of that weight

up onto
such spindly, little legs,

so it's gonna take
some planning, a lot of effort,

and we need the tools
back in San Francisco.

NARRATOR: Alaska really is
a land of intensity --

the wilderness, the wildlife,
and the winters.

It's those short, cold days

that make this state home
to an all-time classic myth.

What do we got?

Well, you know, winters
in Alaska are pretty harsh.

The days are short.
The nights are real long.

People get snowed in
with nothing to do,

and supposedly, they succumb

to a condition
known as cabin fever.

You mean they get, like,
all loopy?

Exactly, and, well,
we're gonna put it to the test.

Well, you're already
a little nuts.

How are we gonna tell
the difference?

Actually, it turns out

that there are a distinct set
of symptoms to cabin fever.

All we got to do

is put ourselves
in the right conditions

and see if we exhibit
those symptoms.

NARRATOR: Kari delayed her
flight back to sunny San Fran

to act as the moderator
of mental health.

KARI:
I found the perfect location

to test cabin fever
on Jamie and Adam --

Hatcher's Pass Lodge in Alaska,
far from anything.

NARRATOR: Adam and Jamie are
just minutes away

from a stint in solitary and
a possible descent into madness.

It's tiny,
it's in the middle of nowhere,

and you can barely see
out the windows, it's so white.

NARRATOR:
They'll spend their time

just hanging out
in adjacent huts.

A sudden flurry of snow
sets the scene.

This is perfect
for an Alaska adventure.

Hi, Kari.

Hi, guys.

How are you?

You can barely see anything.

Hey.

It's about to get dark.

There's a snowstorm.

Are you ready
to get cabin fever?

I'm ready.
You ready?

Yeah, let's go.

Wait till I show you
to your room.

NARRATOR:
The rooms aren't bad.

[ Laughs ]

But they've both been stripped
back to bare essentials --

as are the boys.

They're well-searched
for anything

that might divert or entertain.

So, hope you have no other
contraband, no electronics.

-I need your watch as well.
-Oh, okay.

I have no electronics,
no reading material.

Uh, that's my watch.

NARRATOR:
Both of our detainees

think this will be
a walk in the park.

And let's remember that Jamie's
already spent quality time

inside a coffin.

And he's still alive.

NARRATOR: But they're not
so sure about each other.

Um... whether Adam is gonna deal
with this real well,

I don't know.

Adam's a little, um, impulsive.

Ah!

NARRATOR: Only a friend
could put it so gently.

Aaah!

He could just, like,
get a bug up his butt

and go nuts for all I know.

I don't really know.

NARRATOR: And right back at you
from cellblock one, good buddy.

Oh, I think Jamie will be
painting on the walls

in his own blood
inside of 46 hours.

[ Laughs ]

NARRATOR: Well, that should add
some color.

But let's spare
a thought for Kari.

She has to watch these two
slowly unravel.

This is my Big-Sister
surveillance system.

I've got four cameras --

one in the front and back
of each cabin.

I can switch between the cameras
with a touch of a button

and watch their every move.

NARRATOR:
Surveillance aside,

Kari's running cognitive
and stress tests

to get some hard data.

But our volunteer voyeur
has her own troubles.

I think I'm gonna go crazy
before they are.

Did I mention we're in the same
circumstance that they are,

except for I have to watch them
be bored?

NARRATOR: Jamie at least
has a simple plan

to preserve his sanity.

JAMIE:
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do.

Every day's gonna be working out
until I'm exhausted,

and then I'm gonna sleep.

NARRATOR: The man with
the mustache kicks off in style,

but the short days
and long nights

might soon sap his spirit.

So, who's going to crack first?

Adam?

Jamie?

Or Kari?

-Sweet dreams all 'round.
-Good night.

NARRATOR: Kari, Tory, and Grant
are testing a myth

that says speeding up your car

might prevent
this potential Alaskan roadkill

from k*lling you.

Back in San Francisco,

Kari's been on the Net
looking for inspiration.

And believe it or not, she's
found a thesis by a Swedish man

on how to build
a giant rubber moose.

KARI:
That's cool.

NARRATOR:
With his permission,

they modify
the multislice design

and source
a small mountain of rubber.

Cool! Those are the jet cutters
right there.

NARRATOR:
With an OMAX waterjet cutter,

H2O Precision can carve our
moose slices in next to no time.

Tory's already had the details
of our design

punched into H2O's computer.

All right, here's our moose.

I know it doesn't look like
much of a moose, but it will.

Now, what I have here
are half-inch sheets of rubber.

Now, we have the design of our
moose in the computer in slices.

Once we stack those together,

we'll have the shape
of a moose in rubber.

This is one layer
out of over 150 layers of rubber

that's gonna make up our moose.

Now, once we stack these
together in the right order

and fasten it, we'll have

roughly the same size, weight,
and density as a real moose.

NARRATOR: But a real fake moose
needs more than sheer mass.

Back at M7, Kari adds
the bones and the sinew.

This is the cable we're gonna
use to keep the moose together.

This is gonna run the length
of the moose twice,

and that way, when the car
actually hits the moose,

the moose will stay flexible,
bending as if it's a real moose.

NARRATOR: Kari sleeves the cable
in rubber tubing,

and Grant's done
likewise with the legs.

The deal is we want the legs --
This is our moose leg.

We want them to be floppy.

But we also want them to be
reusable once it gets hit.

So the hip joint's gonna be
made out of steel,

and that's gonna connect
to the cable

that's inside of the moose leg,

and when it gets hit,
it'll go flying,

and then we can set it
right back up again.

NARRATOR: Meantime,
Tory's going gangbusters

with his half-inch fillets.

It looks good, though.
Looks like a moose.

-I know, kind of.
-What do you think?

-Lucy?
-Lucy the moosey?

-Yeah.
-I love it.

NARRATOR: Congratulations, Tory.
It's a girl.

But does she have enough junk
in the trunk?

All right,
so, the moose is done,

and it looks like
it's weighing about 620 pounds,

which is a good average
for the type of moose

that would likely
get hit by a car.

Now that the moose is done,
we're gonna see

if we can make him stand up.

So, what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna build a pair of 2x4 legs

that the moose will sit on.

It'll cradle in.

So, that way, when the car comes
crashing through,

it'll knock the legs away,
and then the moose will behave

the way the moose will behave.

NARRATOR: Building the frame
is no big deal,

but will it support
the massive load we call Lucy?

TORY: Good moose.
Stay.

NARRATOR: It does.

-Nice.
-I love it.

NARRATOR: And it's
at just the right height

for her -- ahem --
ample proportions.

And like any cow
to the slaughter,

it's best she doesn't
know her destiny.

Shh.

I'm the moose whisperer.

All right,
let's bring those cars in.

So, the myth states that
the guys used a 20-second fuse

on their stick of dynamite.

Now, the question is,
can a dog, from a cold start,

run to 125 feet,
fetch a stick of dynamite,

and come on back
in under 20 seconds?

And that's what we're
about to answer with Rudy.

NARRATOR:
Of course, for this test,

they swap the dynamite
for a rubber ball,

but you get the idea.

We got our starting line.

We got the target pylon
over there.

Let's just throw the ball
a few times, and I'll time it.

I'll bet you can throw it
to where he gets it

right about at that pylon
and comes on back,

and we'll just see
how long that takes.

NARRATOR:
It sounds simple, but remember

that Rudy is not only skidding
around on slippery ice,

but it's 20 degrees below zero.

Good boy!

NARRATOR: You'd think
he'd get slower and slower,

but each successive
fetch and return

reads the same on Adam's
stopwatch -- 16 seconds.

JAMIE:
So far, the idea that the dog

could actually get the stick
of dynamite and bring it back

is looking really good.

It's totally doable as far
as the myth is concerned.

NARRATOR: This whole myth
is falling nicely into place.

Perhaps a little too nicely.

Here comes the bit

where we try blasting a hole
through the ice...

Thanks, guys.

NARRATOR:... sinking this car
with one stick of dynamite.

ADAM: So far, the Alaska myth
is looking pretty good.

The dog did his job real well,

but now
it all comes down to this.

If one stick of dynamite
can't sink the car, it's busted.

NARRATOR:
And now back to the myth

designed to separate
Adam and Jamie

from their fragile faculties.

Day two dawns
on our cabin-fever test,

though it should be noted
that a midwinter Alaskan sunup

kicks in around 10:00 a. m.

Good morning.
It is the morning of day two.

I have had a reasonably fitful
night of sleep.

I had some really weird dreams.
I, uh...

I dream I'm in a plane
and slowly crashing

and slowly crashing down
on a street in San Francisco,

and I'm way up at the c*ck,

and I turn to everyone
and I say,

"Listen, I don't think
this is a real plane crash,

'cause I happened to notice
that I'm not wearing any pants."

[ Laughs ]

"And whenever I'm not wearing
any pants,

it's probably a dream."

[ Laughs ]

NARRATOR: Kari's up already,
bright-eyed, keen-eared,

and she's wearing pants.

KARI:
It's early morning,

and this is actually
the first surprise,

is that Jamie is still sleeping.

He's an early riser.

Usually, he's up doing exercise

and probably into the shop
by 5:00 a. m.

Adam, on the other hand,
is just a beehive.

NARRATOR: Jamie does eventually
rouse himself

and starts the first
of his two tests.

The cognitive test aims to see

if their mental faculties
decrease over time.

The saliva test
is a stress indicator,

but to get a fair reading, you
can't eat or drink beforehand.

KARI:
Oh, you know what, though?

I think he just took
a drink of water

right before he took this test.

NARRATOR: So, this and, trust
me, many spit tests to come

count for nothing.

Spit reading of 35.

This is the morning
of the second day,

so apparently
I'm pretty relaxed.

NARRATOR: Shame we can't say
the same for Kari,

but biometrics aren't
the only indication

of who is or isn't stressed
and bewildered.

Hap Wurlitzer owns these cabins,

and he's come real close
to misplacing his own marbles

through many a long winter.

It happens to everybody
in Alaska, including me.

What would you consider
the symptoms?

Well, it's probably being
on edge, irritability...

...angry-looking eyes,
forgetfulness...

What's going on?

...and sleeping extra time
in the cabins.

NARRATOR: So, now we know
what to look for.

Jamie's already a pinup boy
for symptom number four.

Next door,
Adam can't stop fidgeting.

KARI: Adam's body language
at the moment

shows that he's sort of antsy.

Oh, he's going
for the coat hanger.

I knew he would make something
with the hanger.

I would totally make something
with the coat hanger.

NARRATOR: Desperate times call
for desperate diversions.

Adam's building
a fancy desktop toy

from his one potential
plaything, a wire coat hanger.

I've spent some time
making a little whirligig here

out of one of the two coat
hangers I found on the rack.

NARRATOR: Meantime,
the big news from cabin two

is that Jamie's sitting up.

KARI: I think
Jamie has reached full Buddha.

He has not moved in an hour.

NARRATOR: Before day's end,
both boys find time

to write in their journals,

then repeat their cognitive
and spit tests.

123?

What, are you crazy?
Look at this.

NARRATOR: Okay,
just forget the stress test.

What we all need here
is a time out and a nice nap.

As the sun sets,
it's hard to say

if either one technically
has cabin fever.

The boys say no,
but Kari's unconvinced.

She knows that every picture
tells a story.

Now they've arrived
at a specialized test track

for what should be
a shattering debut.

KARI: Okay, this myth is
really about hitting a moose,

'cause obviously,
if you can stop in time,

that's gonna be the best choice.

Right.
This is the point of no return.

You're gonna hit the moose.

The question is, is it better
to speed up or slow down?

All right, what do you think,
like 45 miles an hour?

It's a good average between
highway and regular roads.

That sounds good.

NARRATOR:
Crashing cars is more or less

what the folks at E-TECH Testing
Services do for a living.

And parent company
Energy Absorption Systems

make crash cushions,
which could be useful

if this moose mayhem
runs off the rails.

But that's highly unlikely.

A guide bar fitted to one wheel
keeps the car on track,

and through a system of chains
and pulleys, a truck tows it

from a safe distance
in the opposite direction.

The reason why we came to E-TECH
is 'cause they are set up

to test crashes.

That's what they do.
They have a towing system.

It's a 2-to-1 ratio, so their
towing vehicle only has to go

half as fast as the actual
vehicle that's gonna crash.

Plus, they have a steering hub,

and he's attaching that
right now, so that way,

our car won't veer off course

and we hit the moose
right where we want.

NARRATOR: But crash-test cars
still need crash-test dummies.

TORY:
I think this is the first time

we've ever used Buster for what
he was intended to be used for.

GRANT:
It's a historic moment.

NARRATOR:
With Buster buckled up,

we're ready for test number one.

Moose meets machine at 45 per.

Am I excited?
You better believe I'm excited.

We just made
a giant rubber moose,

and now we're gonna crash cars
into it.

It doesn't get
much better than this.

GRANT: Ohh!
Here comes the car!

That's 20 miles an hour.

40. 45.

-Oh!
-Oh!

Oh [bleep]

I mean, the car came careening
at the moose,

hit the moose,
the moose flies in the air.

The head kind of just falls
to the ground.

We got exactly the results
we need

and a lot of comedy out
of this high-speed, I'm sure.

NARRATOR: Will speeding up or
slowing down reduce the carnage?

And just how many cars
can we afford to wreck

in the cause
of sensible driving?

I've just had the worst night of
sleep I've ever had in my life.

KARI: Jamie has gotten up and
straightaway started eating.

He's not done his spit-swab
test, which is a problem for me,

'cause it's gonna mess up
my data.

Either he's forgetting, or he's
just lost the plot completely.

NARRATOR:
But don't underestimate

Adam's cold-weather quirks.

These long-life military rations
are called MREs,

or meals ready to eat.

Some soldiers call them
meals ready to expel.

For breakfast today, I'm gonna
have a little jambalaya.

NARRATOR: It's not exactly
toast and grapefruit,

but he might get a chance
to test his chemical toilet.

[ Burps ] Oh!

I forgot to try
the Tabasco in there.

NARRATOR:
Yes, charming.

The morning wears on,
and self-sufficient Jamie

finds there's one thing
he can't live without.

I don't have any coffee,
which bugs me,

because I'd be a lot more active
and less inclined to just nap,

which I'm sure is scintillating
TV, to watch me nap,

but it's not my decision.

Oh, great.
We got a yeti outside.

KARI: I've decided to play
a little prank on Jamie and Adam

with help
with the ultimate urban legend.

[ Growls ]

NARRATOR: Jamie's cold stare
shows he's not amused.

But Kari gets a better response
from Adam.

[ Thumping, growling ]

[ Laughs loudly ]

He's hiding in the bathroom
from the snow yeti.

[ Giggling ]

NARRATOR: Sounds like Kari's
the one who's ready to crack.

I have to get out of here.

NARRATOR:
But she has a remedy.

For one crazy hour,

Kari does everything worth
doing on fresh, white snow.

And I mean everything.

It's my best work yet.

Well, guys,
it's the moment of truth.

It's time to put a stick
of dynamite under this S. U.V.

and see what happens.

Oh, yeah, man.

All of our facts so far have
stacked up pretty plausible.

This is the last link
in the chain.

Frank, do you have the stick
of dynamite for us?

Right here it is --
the real thing.

That is red and everything.
That's perfect.

NARRATOR:
Now cover your ears,

and thank goodness
you're not here on Fischer Pond.

This is what happens

when Mythbusters
play with dynamite.

ADAM:
Fire in the hole!

NARRATOR:
Almost nothing.

JAMIE: I see a little dent
there, and that's about it.

DOYLE: Yeah, other than that,
no damage.

The dog would have been gone.

But the truck's still here.

Look, the ice
that we're on right now

is a good average thickness
for a frozen lake

that you'd feel safe driving
an automobile out onto.

So, based on what we've seen,
we have to call it busted.

NARRATOR:
Busted, but not beaten.

We've all come a long way
in the freezing cold

to see a good, old-fashioned
truck sinking,

and 2 dozen pounds of dynamite

packed inside these high-tech
directional cones

should do the trick.

Well, it's clear from the hole
pattern I see around the car

that we've got a nasty case
of ice gophers.

These little varmints
will bore their way

around any vehicle
they find on the ice

to chew on it underwater.

There's only one way
to take care of them,

and that's high expl*sives.

Fire in the hole!

Fire in the hole!

Fire in the hole!

3, 2, 1.

-Bye-bye!
-Oh!

Criminy!

NARRATOR: The ice ripples out
like a liquid earthquake.

Surface snow fills the air
and blurs the view.

By the time it clears,
the car has disappeared.

I don't see no S. U.V.

No more S. U.V.

It went bye-bye.

So, what do you think?

Did it just blow the truck up,
or did it sink it?

Well, I see a couple pieces
of debris from the truck,

but nothing major.

I think it sank it.

99 % of that truck's
under the water.

Let's yank on the chain
and see what happens.

[ Laughs ] Okay.

NARRATOR: Incredibly,
this fresh-blasted duck pond

is already freezing over.

Adam and Jamie really don't know
for sure where the car went,

but a few tugs on the chain

confirm they've got
a 2-ton catch.

ADAM: [ Sighs ]

I think we're gonna need
more expl*sives

to get this truck out.

I think we are.

If they worked putting it in,

they're gonna work
getting it back out again.

That's true.

[ Both laugh ]

NARRATOR: No,
we're not yanking your chain.

To get the car back, they have
to blast the ice one more time.

Filming stops
as the light fades,

but the car was retrieved.

We've left this pristine pond
pretty much the way we found it,

busting a myth and saving
a puppy in the process.

[ Barking ]

Um, well, the sun is out,

and it's made it
unfathomably beautiful out here.

I don't know whether the sun
is just about to set

over the mountain there

or has just risen
over the mountain there.

I've already lost
all my concept of time.

NARRATOR: And here's
what's happened so far.

They've been bored.

They've slept.

They've exercised.

They've gone back to sleep.

I napped the first day
because I could.

It was great.

Get up when you want.
Go to sleep when you want.

NARRATOR: And by drinking
just before the saliva tests,

they've both ruined any chance
of accurate stress data.

Having just woken up from a nap,

it's saying
that my stress reading is 94.

Here, look.

NARRATOR:
Okay, that's just scary.

Meantime, Jamie's decided
to hold a one-man convention

and draft
a new U.S. Constitution --

seriously.

You know, it started because
we started seeing T-shirts

that says, "Savage-Hyneman '08."

The first thing that we'll do

is relocate all politicians
to employment on pork farms.

And then we'll pretty much start
from the ground up

and try to come up with a system
that actually works.

You know, get people
that run the country

that are actually literate,
things like that.

NARRATOR:
This test has run its course,

and Kari's ready
to pull the plug.

KARI: Adam's been both irritable
and really restless.

He's been pacing
around the room.

Both of them
have been forgetful.

Either they're not
doing their tests --

they're forgetting to do them --

or they're making
a lot of mistakes.

And finally,
they are sleeping a whole lot.

It's practically hibernation.

These could be the symptoms
of cabin fever.

I've seen enough.
I'm gonna bust them out.

You had enough?

[ Laughs ]
I've definitely had enough.

This was far
from the, like, relaxing respite

that I thought it would be.

NARRATOR:
Now, let's see how Jamie coped

with just Jamie for company.

JAMIE: The worst part
was the beginning --

[bleep] off at being here

because you're
in a closed-up room.

Chances are
you're not gonna like it

as much as if you had
all the normal stimulants.

Have you had enough?

I'm just starting
to get into it.

I'm not sure what that proves,

and I was a little [bleep]
off about it,

but that being said,
then I started to get into it.

I craved the sound
of the human voice.

I missed my wife.

Um, l-l haven't been bored,

but I have been really lonely.

NARRATOR:
But the real question remains.

Did either one ever lose
his fragile grip on sanity?

The cognitive-test results

were too consistent
to prove anything,

and they both blew
the spit tests.

But Kari's kept a lookout
for Hap's four sure signs...

What's going on with me?

NARRATOR:
...irritability...

The mattress
was [Sniffs] terrible.

NARRATOR:
...forgetfulness,

angry eyes...

Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR:
...and excessive sleeping.

Napping in the afternoon,
napping in the morning.

I love napping.

All right, guys, how do
you want to call this one?

Well, based on the surveillance,

you exhibited four out of four
of the cabin-fever symptoms,

and you one.

Yeah, but he's a robot.

And I just got in.
It was a long trip.

I was tired.

I think we could call this
plausible.

-Plausible it is.
-Okay, plausible.

Can I go back to the room now?

[ Laughs ]

NARRATOR:
There's no doubt about it.

Go.

NARRATOR:
Hitting an average-size moose

in an average-size car
can only end in tears.

You know, it's like
you're driving down the road,

you're eating your baked Alaska,

and all of a sudden,
a moose is in front of you,

and you're like --
You don't have time to swerve.

You're gonna hit the moose,
but now the question is,

is it better to accelerate into
the moose or hit the brakes?

NARRATOR: Some say
it's better to speed up.

But let's first test
this Alaskan roadkill myth

by slowing down.

Grant's installed
a remote-control braking system

that's every bit as effective as
a panicked human's right foot.

GRANT: So, the remote braking
system is radio-controlled,

and what that does is send
a signal

to the receiver inside the car,

activates a pneumatic solenoid
that fires a pneumatic cylinder,

and that will pop the brake
very, very quickly,

just as if you were
to stamp hard on it.

NARRATOR: They know
that at 45 miles per hour,

the car takes 70 feet to stop.

So, to best simulate
a real accident,

they plan to hit the brake

and, in a later test,
the accelerator

just 30 feet short
of our makeshift moose.

Buster's had enough,

so Cousin Ted
is the designated driver.

-GRANT: Yeah, there you go.
-TORY: Attaboy.

-We are ready to go.
-TORY: All right.

Grant will hit the brakes
30 feet before we hit the moose.

Are we ready?

Ready.
In 3, 2, 1.

We're going.

Here it comes.

All right, we're at 45.

[ Tires screeching ]

[ Cheering ]

Nice!

-Yeah, hit the moose.
-Sweet.

TORY: Dude, look at that.
It stopped perfectly. Wow.

NARRATOR: It's another
windshield wipe-out.

But they all agree that
this time there's less damage,

and that could mean
the difference

between life and death.

But they've also noticed
that the moose hit higher

when the car went faster.

I'm starting to think
that if you speed up,

if you accelerate
like in the myth,

it might actually hit
even higher.

Now, whether
it's gonna clear the car,

I'm not entirely
convinced of yet.

Snap out of it.

NARRATOR: This is the test
that might confirm the myth.

Just 30 feet short
of certain catastrophe,

driver Brian's been told
to hit the gas.

Okay.

All right,
this is acceleration test.

Ready, Kari?

We are ready.

TORY: On 3, 2, 1.

Go.

10 miles an hour.

20 miles an hour.

40 miles an hour.

45.

Accelerate!

[ Cheering ]

That was great.

Wow! Did you see how high
the moose got on that hit?

It looked like it got higher
than any of the other hits.

Oh, my God, look.
It broke the back window out.

-GRANT: Ohh.
-KARI: Wow!

MAN: Whoa!

NARRATOR:
But it didn't clear the car.

The side pillars are crushed,

and the roof is peeled back
like a sardine tin.

Look at this. It totally bent
the midsection of the car down.

KARI: Look at the backseat.
It went to the backseat.

It went whoosh!

So, what do you think?

Going faster doesn't look like
it's a better tactic.

I mean, you are accelerating.

You're hitting
with greater force.

More speed is more energy.

That's crazy.

-Myth busted.
-Myth busted.

Busted,
just like all these cars.

NARRATOR:
Okay, it's busted.

But all these cars
are midsize sedans.

What if your car
is a low-profile coupe?

The roof is lower, so Lucy
might sail right over the top.

But Kari's
already made her mind up.

KARI:
Personally, I think people

are watching
way too many cartoons

and getting their physics
from Wile E. Coyote.

I mean,
when he goes off a cliff,

he hangs there for a minute
before he falls.

I think they're seeing
that the moose gets hit, phoosh,

and kind of hangs there
and then drops.

It's just not possible.

NARRATOR:
Well, let's see.

This time, Brian's simple brief

is to put his foot down
all the way.

This is full-speed test.

We're giving it
everything we got.

That's right. Low-profile car.
This is it.

All right, Brian.
Hit it.

-There he goes.
-KARI: Oh, my gosh.

Oh, dear.

Oh, my God, it's going so fast,
there's sparks coming out.

Whoo!

[ Cheering ]

NARRATOR:
The car hits 75 miles per hour.

Lucy's lost her legs,
the car is caved in,

Ted's a sad statistic,

and this myth is double busted.

This hit was hard enough

to knock the ears off
of our moose and the antlers.

That's kind of an impact.

That's pretty crazy.

The moose is coming down
on the car.

No matter what you do,
you're crashing.

TORY: You know what? I have
a whole new respect for moose.

I hope I never run
into one on the road.

If I do, I'm definitely not
gonna speed up

and try to take his legs out.

I mean, we've shown it.

NARRATOR: Unless the moose you
hit is a world-class gymnast,