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Obama on 'MythBusters'

Charles Dharapak/AP
'MythBusters' co-hosts Adam Savage (r.) and Jamie Hyneman (c.) exit the White House after filming a segment with President Obama on Monday.
Susan Walsh/AP
President Obama examines a robot that plays soccer, built by a team from Blue Bell, Pa., as he tours the science projects on display in the State Dining Room of the White House on Monday. Obama will appear on an episode of MythBusters Dec. 8.

As part of an initiative to boost science and math education, President Obama will appear on the Dec. 8 episode of "MythBusters," the Discovery Channel show aimed at debunking popular myths with experimentation and science.

Special effects masters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, together with a team of likable young scientists and, well, geeks, dutifully subject user-submitted "myths" to rigorous testing.

Over its eight-season run, the show has asked many important scientific questions:

  • Does a goldfish's memory last for only 3 seconds?
  • Can a jet engine launch a taxi into the air?
  • Can a playing card kill a person if thrown with enough power?

Perhaps the most popular – and mind-bendingly simple myth, if you ask us – is the question of whether an airplane can take off while on a conveyor belt. (Yep.)

President Obama's MythBusters episode is said to focus on the fabled "Archimedes death ray" – the legend that in the third century the famed thinker used parabolic mirrors arrayed along a beach to set fire to an advancing Roman fleet. The show has addressed the story before – twice – declaring it "busted," but maybe the President will add something to the discussion.

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