UAA team helps Discovery Channel's Mythbusters production crew

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, co-hosts of The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters TV show, were assisted by a team from UAA to investigate a myth about misguided hunters using dynamite to blow a hole in lake ice for duck hunting, losing their truck in the process. Professor Orson Smith of UAA's School of Engineering and his son Riley Smith, lab instructor for UAA's Physics Department, measured ice thickness on Fisher's Pond just north of Wasilla on Jan. 28-30, 2008, and advised the production crew about safety on the ice. The episode is expected to appear on Discovery Channel later this season.

"The Mythbusters show has inspired thousands of young people to seek careers in science and engineering," said Smith. "We were thrilled to help Adam and Jamie look into a cold regions myth here in Alaska."