The terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center, damaged The Pentagon, and downed U.A. Flight 93 in Shanksville, Penn. are unique in several ways. They were arguably the turning point in American Warfare, turning our defensive procedures to a larger, more focused scale for our Homeland Security measures. It turned our full attention offensively to the Middle East, which has occupied our military efforts over the last decade. They have also had the distinction of being the first major U.S. tragedy to hit during the information age, making it one of the better documented historical events in our country’s existence. Using much of the video footage, audio recordings, and transcribed conversations between the individuals involved with the tragedy, The Discovery Channel has put together a new documentary tentatively called The 9/11 Tapes: Chaos in the Sky, a minute to minute recount of the morning of September 11 2001 through the eyes of the military and air traffic control units that dealt with the hijackings first hand.

The majority of Chaos in the Sky is told through the eyes of the soldiers stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod as well as air traffic controllers in New York City and Boston. The documentary is done in a minute to minute basis, covering the beginning of the morning at both Otis and JFK airport in Boston. When the initial hijack occurs, the recorded conversations in both Otis and JFK reveal the general feeling on all fronts was that they had a hostage situation on their hands and no high amounts of alarm were scene, being that there was a procedure in place for such things. This of course changes when the hijackers crashed American Airlines 11 into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. From there the documentary becomes a chaotic and somewhat frightening look at the nature of our vulnerability to such an attack and the actions that were taken by the officials who were in charge of handling it.

Though several specials about the attacks have been made in the last year (marking the ten year anniversary of the attack), Chaos in the Sky does have a very unique angle to it. This is mainly stems from how calculated and official the tone of the documentary is and the use of the official recordings from Otis. While most of the pieces put out about the attacks last year where focused on the civilian and public service aspects, this special focuses almost completely on the air traffic controllers and military pretense during the attack. This gives the documentary a very war-like tone, with much of the dialog becoming aerodynamic jargon and military code. There is also a difference in message from most specials about 9/11, with a large portion of the time spent pointing out the shortcomings of the official bodies involved, including the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A.) to inform North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) of the hijacked plane’s initial redirection in a standard amount of time, NORAD’s failure to scramble jets immediately, and the unorganized fashion the jets were eventually scrambled in that prevented them from arriving on the scene sooner.

It is the job of historians to record the events of the past in as accurate and unbiased way possible. Now, a decade after what is arguably one the first major world changing event for Generation Y, we can begin to look at not only what was done to our country, but also what could have been done in order to control it at the time. Chaos in the Sky is a great look at the events of the morning at 9/11 not just for it’s preciseness, but for its new view on the subject and is a must see for history and military buffs.

The special premieres TONIGHT, February 12 at 9 p.m.

The September 14 finale of “Sons of Guns” on the Discovery Channel was watched by almost three million viewers. The show ranked #1 for primetime broadcast and cable programs among men 18-34.

The episode was titled “Oh My God, A Cannon!” During the finale Will tackled a cannon, Vince gave a treatment for New Orleans Saints kicker Garret Hartley and there was an unexpected happening between Kris and Stephanie.

New episodes of the show will air in the fall.

Fresh off its third consecutive Emmy nomination, “Mythbusters” is back for more as the hit show returns for its fall season of Wednesdays at 9 p.m., starting September 28, Discovery Channel said Monday.

Blast interviewed hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage last year.

Fall 2011 myths will include:

• Is it impossible for humans (without a point of reference) to walk in a straight line?
• Are motorcycles better for the environment than cars?
• Can you supersize a Newton’s Cradle to epic proportions?
• If a pigeon lands on the roof of a car, which is hanging precariously over a cliff’s edge, could it provide enough force to send the car plunging over the side?
• In a standoff between a hero with a revolver and a villain with a rocket propelled grenade (as seen in the movie Red), could the bullet trigger the warhead? And would the villain be taken out by the blast?
• Was the “flying guillotine” a lethal ancient weapon — or kung-fu make believe?
• Can you use duct tape to fix a plane that has been mauled by a bear? (As odd as this one sounds, it’s a story that has inundated our fan site message boards for years!)
• Could a methane blast inside a sewer, blow manhole covers tens of feet into the air?
• Some call it indestructible, but can truck bed liners stop an animal attack? Prevent a car from being damaged? Make it bomb-proof?
• A behind-the-scenes look at the special locations MYTHBUSTERS use to in their myth-busting tests, from Alameda to Africa and from the desert to the deep blue sea.
• Explosions. Rocket sleds. More duct tape. Oh… and more explosions!

CAMBRIDGE — “MythBusters,” a show in which the hosts use scientific experimentation to investigate everything from common assumptions to weird urban legends, is one of the most popular programs on the Discovery Channel. It’s filmed in and around San Francisco, but “MythBusters” frontmen Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage came to Cambridge recently to receive the Harvard Humanism Award. Blast asked them what happens behind the scenes of their popular show and how they’ve produced seven years of explosive television without killing anyone.

Each of these guys has an interesting past. Jamie earned a degree in Russian language and experimented with various careers before hunkering down into the special effects business and becoming the owner of M5 Industries, the effects company where much of “MythBusters” takes place. Adam’s dad worked on Sesame Street, giving him a bridge into the world of puppetry and models, but he was also a child actor who played Mr. Whipple’s stockboy in one of the popular “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” television commercials. Adam also appeared as a drowning teen in the 1985 Billy Joel video for “You’re Only Human.”

One of Jamie and Adam most notable early collaborations was as the creators of Blendo, a robotic tiny terror with spinning blades and an inverted wok for a shell. Powered by a lawnmower engine, Blendo mowed through its opponents on the TV show “Robot Wars.” With the ability to slice into the arena walls as well as its opponents, plus a tendency to hurl parts of its dismembered foes into the audience at high speeds, Blendo was twice withdrawn and awarded the title of “co-champion” after being deemed to dangerous for competition.

The creation of this infamous mechanical menace, designed by Jamie and wired by Adam, demonstrates some of the same qualities that make “MythBusters” successful. Jamie and Adam have considerable technical skills honed through decades of “hands on” experience building things that never existed before.

They also have flair for the dramatic, although drama is something Jamie likes to downplay. He’s the one with the beret and the walrus-y mustache that almost conceals his serious mouth. Jamie has a calm, no non-sense attitude, and a tendency to grumble at anything he considers silly or unnecessary, but his eyes twinkle and dance when he’s amused at the success (or failure) of some endeavor. Adam, the redhead, has an effusively cheerful personality. Their different personas work well together on screen, and their mutual respect is evident.

BLAST: Jamie, how did M5 Industries come into being? How did that lead to you working in front of the camera on “MythBusters?”

JAMIE HYNEMAN: I had run a local model shop for a production company called Colossal Pictures, and at one point they had to downsize and just gave me the shop, hoping I would take it and run with it, which I did. They remained one of my best clients for some years. My colorful history caught the attention of a film production company that Discovery contracts with, and when they had the idea to do a show on urban legends they approached me. I called Adam, who used to work for me, because I thought between the two of us we might be able to pull it off. The rest is history.

BLAST: Adam, you had an unusual childhood. How did it lead you into your current career?

ADAM SAVAGE: It’s funny actually. I think it started out as two different parts of my interest because I grew up building things, I grew up making things. I was always encouraged to do that. My father was an artist and a sculptor. But by the time I was fifteen I had decided that I wanted to be an actor. So my parents put that opportunity in front of me. And I did some auditions in New York, and I did some commercials. But by the time I was, I guess probably nineteen, I had passed on that in favor of doing stuff with my hands — graphic design, assistant animation in New York, and then eventually working in theater in San Francisco, and film special effects. Then MythBusters came along and it was the perfect marriage of two things, performance and special effects.

BLAST: When you were a kid, did your interest in “hands on” science ever get you in trouble with parents or teachers? And just how big of an explosion was it?

AS: No actually, although I enjoyed setting fires, and almost burnt down our entire summer complex. That was about the worst that ever happened. That was the worst it ever got.

JH: I was a problematic kid, to be sure. I left home when I was 14 and hitchhiked all over the country. But science, explosions, and the stuff we are known for now was not part of the story then. I just have a wide range of interests, and the more pyrotechnic ones ended up being part of the chemistry of what works for the show. They are something we only really came to be intimate with when we started doing MythBusters.

BLAST: Dangerous experiments are exciting to watch, but your concern for safety is obvious as well. Who most often puts the limits on what you do on MythBusters — the production company, your insurance company, or someone else?

JH: Adam and I are the main ones that put limits on what we do. It is in our best interest to remain intact, and while we have acquired quite a few scars on the show, that is about as far as it has gone to date. We have safety oversight from a consultant who did safety consulting for “Fear Factor” and “Jackass”, and he interfaces with the insurance company. But for the most part, the stuff we do does not fit within stunt work or other similar categories. It is very hands on science and experimentation. At this point we are by far our own best experts.

AS: Really at this point it’s very rare that we come up with a story or a way of doing a story that the insurance company says “absolutely not, you can’t do it that way,” because we’ve already thought a lot of their objections.

BLAST: Has there ever been something which you flat out refused to do for the show, perhaps before the camera even started rolling?

JH: Those would be things that I find distasteful, more than dangerous or difficult things. Production in the early days thought it would make for good TV if Adam and I were fighting/having conflicts with each other, so they would encourage us to do that or even try to spin us up against each other. We eventually just put a stop to it. Disagreements that are constructive are fine, but to create conflict as entertainment is in my opinion trashy television, and we have far more interesting things to put out there. The only other things I object to are subjective; production also likes to put us in awkward or goofy situations, undignified ones, which Adam is often OK with, me, not so much.

AS: At one point we were doing this story about tasers. And there was an ongoing discussion about whether or not one of us would get tasered. And after really carefully looking at the research, it was obviously going to be me who was going to get tasered. The question was whether or not I would agree to do it, and then the insurance would take a look at whether they felt comfortable with me doing it. And I took a long look at it and decided I didn’t want to do it.

BLAST: Can you think of a particular moment that really scared the bejeebus out of you?

JH: Well, in general I don’t like heights, but it is more that I am just automatically very uncomfortable there. I do what I have to do; it’s my job. Often the things we do are risky, and I have to say I have gotten quite used to that being the case. For my own safety and that of others on the team I try to remain as flat calm as possible to make sure I don’t miss something that would end up with someone getting hurt. If I was actually “scared”, I would likely be less on the ball. The only one I was really very concerned about my safety in was recent. The episode has not aired yet so I can’t tell very much about it, but I was out in 180 mph+ winds, and while I was tethered, I could tell by the way things around me were behaving that if something let go I would be like something on the end of a whip, and the crack might break my back. The force of the wind I was in was so intense that I knew I had no chance of competing with it. I would be like a rag doll.

BLAST: Is there a myth you’d love to test but the necessary experiment just seems too risky?

AS: There’s this great story out there about a liquid oxygen truck that spills on a highway, and the liquid oxygen ends up turning the entire highway into a bomb and blowing a whole section of road to smithereens. And we did enough investigation into liquid oxygen to discover it’s one of the most terrifying things in the world. Because under the right conditions, obviously, it can make things burn energetically. But it can also turn things like a greasy rag into a high explosive, and I’m really not exaggerating that. On top of that, it’s totally unpredictable. So when we looked at the unpredictability of it, we realized we were ending up with a myth that was either incredibly dangerous or nothing would happen, and the likelihood of either was equal. So the likelihood of ending up with an episode that was safe was very mild.

JH: The thing is that pure oxygen is invisible, yet has the potential of making all sorts of things explosive. Using the amount required to replicate that situation means that you have to consider what would happen if it drifted. What if it went, say, to a running automobile some distance away? The whole auto could explode. Scary.

BLAST: Does the element of danger in your work ever freak out your wives? Have they ever “vetoed” an experiment?

JH: Yes, and no. For the most part she does not know what I am doing until after it’s done, and even if she did, there should be nothing to be concerned about because if we thought it was unsafe, we wouldn’t be doing it. Again, Adam and I are for the most part alone in this — we are often the only ones that really know what the risks are. Our safety oversight, the insurance company, everybody else, is looking at categories and saying stuff like “you are riding at high speed on a motorcycle, so wear a helmet”, and so on. Sure, we’ll do that. But who is the expert about tons of liquid oxygen dumped out on the ground? We are, and we are the only ones we trust.

AS: My wife has never vetoed anything because she trusts my judgment as to what I’m doing. But there are times when I’ve casually described what I’m doing to do and she’s asked for “a little more clarification, please, because that sounds really spooky.”

BLAST: What is the most surprising or implausible myth you’ve ever confirmed?

JH: We are constantly surprised, and many of the stories we take on are implausible. Quantify that? I’d put it this way, we are focused on the process. We dig into something, and it is what it is. We try not to have preconceptions, and are not really that concerned about whether something is true or not so much as whether we have processed the topic diligently. Having done this a lot, we know that in many cases even the silliest stories have an element of truth in them, so one needs to have an open mind to get to the heart of the matter.

AS: We just did one that’s going to air in a couple months called “Waterslide Wipeout.” There’s a YouTube video of a guy riding this long, long waterslide and then flying an impossibly long way through the air. I don’t want to spoil it, but basically we tested that myth as best we could. We had some preconceptions before we went in and we were completely surprised by the results we got out.

BLAST: As recipients of the Harvard Humanism Award, you’ll be in a select group that includes Salman Rushdie, Joss Whedon and Greg Graffin, the front man of the band Bad Religion. Please say a little about why think the students chose you for the award.

AS: It’s hard for me to look into their heads, but given what I’ve read about the award it seems that were being singled out for really demonstrating a level of critical thinking I think is wanting in the rest of the world. One of the things about the show is that what you see is really pretty much what you get. The progression of experiments often mirrors the series of discussions that Jamie and I, and our crew, had going in and discussing the story.

JH: What we do on MythBusters promotes methodical rational, critical thought. It is as simple as that. The episodes we do manifest the benefit of this approach to all sorts of things around us. It shows how easy, even fun it is to deal with the world in this way, and so one does not need to rely on some supernatural entity for things that one does not immediately understand. It also implies that one should not take things that are accepted practice as being the right way to do things, but rather to take on the responsibility for yourself to figure things out, or work with others to do so. Self responsibility is a big, big thing as far as being able to maintain ethical behavior, and so in that sense we are promoting by example ethical behavior, and therefore I can understand this choice.

BLAST: Would you like to mention any upcoming projects, either in front of the camera or behind the scenes?

JH: As surprising as it seems, we are still finding plenty of fresh material to work with. Some of the best work we have done is recent, so keep watching. As far as behind the scenes, I would note that I personally have been doing a fair amount of work for the military in developing new forms of armor specifically aimed at reducing the harm cause by explosives. We use explosives and weapons with a certain amount of glee on the show, and I am concerned that we may seem to be glorifying them. We find them interesting, like many other things, but don’t in any way want to seem like we are encouraging irresponsible use of them. So I’m hoping that my work will mitigate harm from such things and show that just because we use them on the show does not mean we are cavalier about such things. So far our tests are showing a fair amount of success, hopefully we will be saving some lives.

Interview was condensed and edited.

Happy New Year! Here’s what’s on TV:

NBC has the premiere of “The Biggest Loser” at 8 p.m. At 10 History starts up “Life After People” again, and Discovery has the start of the new “Howe & Howe Tech” builder show.

“The Simpsons” has a milestone on Sunday with the show’s 450th episode “Once Upon a Time in Springfield” at 8 p.m. followed by a 1-hour documentary called “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice.” The show is TV’s longest-running scripted primetime series over “Gunsmoke” and “Law & Order.”

The Donald has a third season of “Celebrity Apprentice” starting March 14 at 9 p.m. on NBC. Celebrities competing for charity include: Darryl Strawberry, Cyndi Lauper, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Michael Johnson, Holly Robinson Peete, Goldberg, Carol Leifer, Sinbad, Summer Sanders, Rod Blagojevich, Maria Kanellis, Curtis Stone and Selita Ebanks.

The Versus network made a deal with the NBA to air D-League games starting January 16.

ABC is working on a pilot for a new crime crama called “1-8-7 Detroit” about homicide detectives filmed by a mock-documentary crew.

James Van Der Beek will start a recurring role that may lead to a regular gig on NBC’s new medical drama “Mercy.”

CBS isn’t afraid of college football. “NCIS” and NCIS: Los Angeles” have new episodes airing tonight to compete with the Orange Bowl.

Two very different season finales tonight: “America’s Next Top Model” at 8 p.m. on The CW and “South Park” at 10 on Comedy Central. No premieres on this Wednesday.

In the news, MTV will have exclusive US television rights to Michael Jackson’s “This Is It.” The movie concert will start to air on MTV’s networks in 2011, so don’t hold your breath.

Discovery has another epic series coming out in March. “Life” is an 11-parter and will be narrated by Opray Winfrey.

Lorraine Bracco from “The Sopranos” was cast in a TNT drama pilot called “Rizzoli.” She will play the mother of police detective Jane Rizzoli, who will be played by Angie Harmon.

Tonight, VH1 premieres two more reality shows: “For the Love of Ray J” at 9 p.m. and “I Want to Work for Diddy” at 10. ABC Family has the season finale of “Greek” at 9 tonight.

There’s a decent amount of news on this Monday. FOX gave a full sixth season order to the animated hit “American Dad” about a CIA agent voiced by Seth MacFarlane, who also created “Family Guy.” The show airs at 9:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Discovery will order a second season of “Swords Life on the Line” about the lives of New England fishermen. Discovery Channel also approved a series called “Airplane Repo” about a team that repossesses jets and helicopters from owners who defaulted on the loans. This will start early next year.

Writer Josh Heald, who has films “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Mardi Gras” slated for release next year, also has a few TV projects in the works. “Sausagefest,” will be a comedy on NBC about two 20-something best friends with totally different fathers — one of which will be played by Norm Macdonald. The second show will be a FOX comedy called “Sequestered,” about 12 strangers who have to live together during a long jury trial. The show will mainly focus on their time outside the courtroom where they are allowed to talk about anything except the ongoing trial.

World Series big game tonight, so ABC has “Dancing with the Stars,” FOX eventually has “So You Think You Can Dance,” and NBC has the defunct “Trauma,” What a night. Even Bostonians will be watching baseball.

A little slower tonight after yesterday’s craziness.

But only a little.

ABC premieres “FlashForward” at 8 p.m., but the biggest of the night has to be the two-hour premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy” at 9 p.m. After all the post-season cast drama and changes, it will be good to see how the show turns out this season.

CBS premieres a new season of the original “CSI” at 9 p.m. as well as “The Mentalist” at 10.

The Discovery Channel will go the route of SyFy and take on some ghostly ways with two Texas brothers searching for the ethereal in “Ghost Lab,” premiering October 6 at 10 p.m. In the 13-episode series, Brad and Barry Klinge travel the country in their mobile lab in search of ghosts.

Finally, this morning, The CW has ordered a mid-season docu-reality series called “Fly Girls” about a group of female flight attendants (we can’t say stewardesses anymore) working for the new Virgin America airline. The premise of the corporate-feeling show is to follow five hotties around their work and personal life as they share a home in Los Angeles and fly around the country.

The only premiere tonight is NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” at 8 p.m., but five shows are ending tonight, including the 9 p.m. finale of “Big Brother” on CBS. Also ending tonight are Fox’s fat dating show “More to Love,” ABC’s “Shaq Vs.,” A&E’s “The Cleaner,” and we can’t forget “Addicted to Beauty” on Oxygen.

ABC has canceled the sci-fi-esque romantic drama “Defying Gravity,” because no one watched it. The Fox Television-produced show lasted about a month, with its final episode airing last Sunday.

“Dirty Jobs” will return, already in its fifth season, with mega host Mike Rowe. Discovery Channel promises 11 new episodes starting October 6 at 9 p.m.

Finally today, Comedy Central is starting up a new series called “Secret Girlfriend” on October 7. It features quick, 11-minute mini-episodes about a guy in his 20s, his friends, roommates, and the each of the two girlfriends he’s trying to keep secret from each other.

Television pitchman and reality show star Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, Fla. home.

Mr. Mays’ wife found him unresponsive Sunday morning.

“My dad didn’t wake up this morning.. I’m sure you’ll all hear about it. It hasn’t yet hit me but it’s about to,” said his son, Billy Mays III via his Twitter account. “He’s gone. I’m gonna be strong for him. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers everyone.”

Mr. Mays is the famous television product spokesman who became so well-known that Discovery Channel created a reality series around his work.

His death is under investigation, but authorities have said it does not appear to be suspicious. An autopsy is scheduled for this week.

According to Tampa’s Bay News 9, Mr. Mays was on US Airways Flight 1241 from Philadelphia to Tampa on Saturday when the flight took a hard landing after the front landing gear blew. No one was reported injured in the flight, but Mays did tell the station that he hit his head.

Mays’ wife, Deborah, said the family was not going to make a public statement and asked everyone to respect their privacy.

The television salesman-turned-star is the latest household-name death to hit the news after the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson in the past two weeks. Mr. Mays was less renowned than the previous three, but he was as well known as many famous entertainers for his bevy of television commercials and the reality show.

Meet up with Jamie, Adam, Tory, Kari and Grant in the Mythbusters Season 4 DVD.

The collection has all 30-episodes on 6 discs, giving you almost 19 hours of one of the best programs on television.

Discovery put out the entire fourth season “as they debunk, decode and demystify some of the most popular urban myths and legends. Using modern-day science, they put each myth to the test — from concrete gliders to anti-gravity devices — separating the real from the really out there,” they said recently.

They don’t just tell myths, they put them to the test. Watch for Earthquake Machine, which ends with some really surprising results. Also, Killer Cable Snaps ends by disproving that a tension cable snapping away will cut a man in half. They also revisit several myths that viewers questioned the results of.

This one is a must have. Mythbusters is one of the most popular shows around, and here’s your chance to avoid having to buy them episode-by-episode. Get the whole season in one box.

On that note, I humbly submit this news story that I recently wrote for The Boston Globe.

On December 27, a mobile home trailer exploded in the driveway of a home in Plympton, Mass., sending its occupant flying out through the front door and into the nearby woods. The lucky man was not seriously injured. The explosion was caused when the man, who had no sense of smell from a previous injury, was fixing the heat on the trailer. The trailer filled with gas and exploded.

“His eyebrows were gone and his hair was singed, but he was OK,” fire officials said. The occupant, whom Rich did not identify, refused medical treatment.

There you go, Adam and Jamie!

Episodes include:

• Confederate Rocket
• Vodka Myths
• Steel Toe Amputation
• Seasickness: Kill or Cure
• Paper Crossbow
• Shredded Plane
• Archimedes Death Ray
• Helium Football
• Franklin’s Kite
• Cell Phones on Planes
• Bullets Fired Up
• Myths Reopened
• Mind Control
• Exploding Pants
• Steam Cannon
• Killer Whirlpool
• Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 1
• Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 2
• Shattering Subwoofer
• Deadly Straw
• Earthquake Machine
• Diet Coke and Mentos
• Killer Cable Snaps
• Concrete Glider
• Air Cylinder Rocket
• More Myths Revisited
• Exploding Lighter
• Anti-Gravity Device
• Firearms Folklore
• 22,000-Foot Fall