Obama: Bust This Archimedes Mirror Weapon Myth Again Thanks (Video)

Updated with video of the episode, above.

Apparently “Mythbusters” Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman have to tackle that myth of Greek inventor Archimedes using mirrors to focus sunlight and burn Roman ships again. Because the president of the United States wants them to.

Here are their previous attempts – one sort of worked (not really), the other ended in a desperate Molotov cocktail toss:

Writes LiveScience

The Archimedes legend began in the Medieval Ages, and tells of Archimedes using mirrors to concentrate sunlight as a defensive weapon during the siege of Syracuse, then a Greek colony on the island of Sicily, from 214 to 212 B.C. But no such mirror device has emerged in contemporary Roman or Greek accounts.

A Greek engineer and historian showed that a parabolic mirror can set small, stationary wooden ships on fire, and an MIT team conducted a similar demonstration in 2005. Yet experts doubt that the concept would work well on moving ships at sea — and “Mythbusters” has already busted the myth twice.

Maybe the White House could get the Mythbusters to tackle bigger challenges, like mythical Taliban leaders or a balanced budget.