0:00
Screw science. Everything's out there. It's survival. Survival at this point.
Search this video
0:13
Hey, what's going on everybody?
0:13
From First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
0:16
It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
0:19
And today we're joined by Mark Rober.
0:20
He's the NASA engineer turned YouTube juggernaut whose videos range from carnival science exposés to building the world's largest super soaker to the annual porch pirate glitter bomb holiday extravaganza.
0:29
He also has a new project on the way called Mark Rober's Revenge Engineers, a hidden camera science-focused prank show coming soon to Discovery Channel.
0:36
Mark Rober, welcome to the show. I hate you. Why am I here? It's starting already.
0:42
How are you around spicy food and do you think that there's anything about your science background that may give you an edge as you take on the Hot Ones challenge today?
0:51
I know people sandbag and say they don't do spicy stuff on the show.
0:53
Like I legit like Taco Bell mild sauce is like pushing it for me.
0:59
Like I won't do the full packet.
1:00
So like I am in an extreme disadvantage in that sense.
1:03
As a man of science, you know, and as a firm believer in the scientific method, I will say that I have I brought I brought some gifts.
1:13
And I think we're going to try them as we go along and God willing they are going to help me through this, but but we'll see.
1:38
I'm going to get started. Okay, cool.
1:40
I'm going on the offensive right here out of the gate. Cheers. Cheers. Okay. Oh, yeah. Now I'm ready. Okay.
1:52
Now you are kind of my control here, right?
1:54
Like in science a control. You've done this what? Like 250 freaking times?
2:00
Yeah, but who's counting? I am. You're crazy. Okay.
2:01
So, this is the classic garlic fresno.
2:17
Oh wait, maybe I can do this, dude. This isn't that bad.
2:21
So, as we mentioned in your intro, you're coming soon to Discovery Channel with your show Revengineers, a hidden camera prank show that uses science and engineering to give bad Samaritans their comeuppance.
2:30
And your style of prank, like the wallet drop, for example, kind of shows the duality of human nature.
2:36
Does playing out these thought exercises at such scale, does it make you more optimistic or less optimistic about society as a whole?
2:44
Mhm, that's a good question.
2:44
I think honestly, I feel like it's like more optimistic.
2:50
I feel like people are surprised that people are more honest than they normally are.
2:55
Now, porch pirate package, people stealing that, it's like of course I'm not going to air the person who walks by and doesn't steal the package, right?
3:02
Of course, if you open it, then we reward you with like a pound of freaking glitter and an unshareable amount of fart spray.
3:10
So, here's the first thing I do want to try. Okay.
3:11
I've just got some petroleum jelly.
3:14
What I What I want to do is put this on like just your bottom lip. Okay.
3:19
I want to know if it like creates a barrier.
3:20
Again, as a control, don't do it on your upper lip.
3:22
And let's see we can feel the difference as things go along. You know what I mean? Okay. Here we go. [ __ ] Ooh, there it is.
3:38
There it is a little bit. Little bit.
3:40
just about to say something arrogant again, and then it's like came with a little. Okay. That's all right.
3:49
I'm feeling it a a bit more. Right.
3:51
But like already, we're way past the point where I would like order this at a restaurant.
3:56
Like I would be like, that is too hot.
3:58
I'm not going to order that ever again.
4:01
So before YouTube, you spent 7 years at NASA working on a car-sized rover called Curiosity, which actually successfully landed on Mars in August 2012.
4:08
Can you explain to a dummy like me the sort of key breakthroughs or things that are learned through rovers like Curiosity or Perseverance over the last decade?
4:20
Yeah, I mean essentially these rovers that we're sending there are like scouts for humanity.
4:24
Like in the very near future we'll be we will be a multi-planetary species.
4:28
The first person to step foot on Mars is alive right now.
4:32
It could be you watching this video.
4:35
You could be the first person to step foot on Mars.
4:37
And I just love that thought.
4:39
But before you go to Mars, humans are going to live there, we need to know about Mars.
4:43
So part of what they're doing is going to Mars to learn about the history and is there water on Mars? Turns out there is.
4:49
They're finding out what the solar radiation is.
4:53
You know, what the wind levels are and the temperature fluctuations.
4:55
They're gathering information so that we could someday send humans there.
5:01
One of the coolest moments of my life, like the coolest picture potentially I've ever seen.
5:05
Just that first really grainy image coming back from the rover from a Hazcam. Black and white.
5:09
Like 300 pixels by 300 pixels.
5:12
But it just showed like the shadow of the rover on the surface.
5:16
And so you know, she's in one piece and just we just went nuts. The whole place erupted.
5:21
Cuz it's freaking 7 years of your life of blood, sweat, toil, long hours.
5:26
And to see it like there and it landed and now being excited for the science that will return is just like an incredible feeling.
5:34
Especially cuz it could have been a fiery mess.
5:36
Could have been a fiery mess. Speaking of mess. There. You saw the segway.
5:41
He saw the segway coming.
5:43
Speaking of fiery messes, uh let's pull out another anecdote.
5:47
Okay, this is just good old peanut butter and I'll give you a spoon.
5:51
The idea here is it's a lipid.
5:57
You should kind of coat your mouth a little bit beforehand to not allow that capsaicin to like get on those TRPV1 receptors. Butter coated. I'm coated. All right, here we go. This is another level.
6:27
Yeah, I can say it's it's up a little bit. Yeah.
6:30
Again, would never order this from a restaurant.
6:34
Can we get an update on the squirrels in your backyard?
6:35
Like how's Fat Gus living these days?
6:38
Fat Gus is living the life right now because I'm filming 3. 0.
6:40
Oh, it's going to be the Olympics.
6:43
So, they're all competing and at this point they know the drill, you know, cuz I'll film for about 4 months with them and then I don't really feed them the rest of the year cuz I don't want them to come dependent on me.
6:52
So, at the beginning of filming when walnuts start coming out again, they're just like, "Yes!"
6:56
And like the squirrels come from everywhere.
7:00
To the chagrin of my neighbors, very likely, but yeah, Fat Gus is doing well. Thank you for asking.
7:05
I'll let him know you asked.
7:08
I'm excited about this one.
7:08
Okay, this scientist new to me.
7:12
This is throat numbing spray.
7:13
Like if you have a sore throat, right?
7:15
But I mean, if this worked the reason I'm introducing this early is we've got what, like seven more to go?
7:24
Right, so maybe you can get a couple wings out of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:26
You better believe I'm going to be hitting this pretty strong.
7:29
We're going from a spray to a swig. All right, here we go.
7:38
Just keep it on the right side. Okay.
7:40
All right, I counted about seven sprays in there. Yeah. Yeah.
7:53
Ooh, takes it back to that like kid medicine. Okay, you ready?
7:59
So, this is the Los Calientes Verde. Here we go.
8:07
As a science buff, is there a movie that you have to tip your cap to Hollywood and the way that it depicts physics or mechanical engineering?
8:15
I would say, uh and this may be a common answer among engineers, especially working at JPL, The Martian and Andy Weir.
8:21
What he did and the research he did, like I loved that he showed it can be done actually.
8:25
I mean, the end got a little weird.
8:26
I remember he's like using his glove to like propel himself around in space.
8:31
But, like up to that point, like he the man did his research.
8:33
Having worked at JPL, like built rovers, like and usually that's the litmus test, right?
8:40
If the people who are really in the weeds, if they're like, "Yeah, but."
8:43
But, I'm like dude, props to him.
8:43
I learned stuff from reading that book, right?
8:46
So, that's I think you have to be like that's the gold standard.
8:50
So, on this one, we're going to try just a sugar cube. Let's do two. Two. Just so, you know. For good measure. For good measure. Here you go. There's one. Good catch. Good Here we go. There you go. Okay.
9:05
I mean, as the control, we're doing all right.
9:07
We're doing very good so far. Doing good so far.
9:11
I feel like Yeah, obnoxiously overconfident at this point. Famous last words. Here we go. That's a big bite.
9:21
I deserve respect for that, right internet? What have I done? Taste it with the cube. Okay.
9:35
And that one sneaks up a little on you. Mhm.
9:38
But thankfully, we got the cubes. the cubes.
9:41
And while that cube melts in your mouth, Mark Rober, we have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That Gram, where we do a deep dive on our guest's Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context.
9:48
So, we'll pull the picture up over here on the monitor.
9:52
You just tell us the bigger story.
9:54
How big a thrill was it for you to meet Nitro and get ball rifled by the legend himself? Amazing.
9:58
And he was like talking trash against me, too.
10:00
Like, "You're going down."
10:02
It's like, "Ah, this is amazing."
10:05
Uh the legend grew up watching that show, and for him to come out and I we made his tennis ball cannon from the show, but like souped it way up in this new like Willy Wonka warehouse I built.
10:15
And uh to to try and avoid it and be like the average drobe from American Gladiators, absolute dream come true.
10:22
How did it feel when you got rifled? Cuz you Terrible.
10:24
About like this is my All right, one more for you.
10:30
What's a behind-the-scenes nugget I can sink my teeth into when it comes to the field goal-kicking robot?
10:35
Uh one of my favorite videos on your entire channel.
10:37
So, yeah, we built this robot that can kick field goals like 110-yard field goals.
10:42
Uh and I went up against Matt Prater, who at the time held the record for the world's longest field goal kick.
10:49
What I'll say about Matt Prater and field goal kickers in general these days, they don't necessarily kick farther than field goal kickers maybe like 20, 30 years ago, but they're so much more consistent.
10:59
just tell on an eyeball test watching football now.
11:01
Yeah, they're just way, way more consistent, and that's what matters for coaches.
11:05
So, literally, when we were there, he probably kicked something like 40 field goals.
11:11
Like none of them Not only they didn't miss, but like if these are the uprights, it was like middle 20% every time.
11:17
Like, that guy is so automatic.
11:21
Like, the only time he missed is when we finally got far enough back for my robot.
11:24
Trying to bomb it from 70 yards out. That's right.
11:26
And that's where you know, the robot dominated, of course, but I think it's time for the sour cream.
11:32
Again, that's a pre-coat.
11:32
We're just going to go straight from the container here. Bang, bang.
11:37
That's how I do it here at Hot Ones. Mhm.
11:40
Little sour cream for science. Mhm. All right. Here we go. Oh, there it is. Yeah, there it is. I was waiting for it. Yeah, it sneaks in.
12:05
But, I saw in your eyes almost an excitement to discover it.
12:07
You know, I didn't see a fear.
12:09
I didn't see a fear in your eyes, Mark. No, no, no. It's excitement.
12:11
That's one of my favorite scientific quotes is uh somewhere something amazing is waiting to be discovered.
12:20
Like, that's the excitement of science.
12:21
It's like the unknown and answering these questions.
12:23
Like, I love that just in my everyday life.
12:26
I will say that so far there is a noticeable change in the way that the experience is hitting me. Interesting.
12:33
So, normally by this point you're just feeling it a little bit more.
12:36
Your brain is more like, "Yo, you're on fire.
12:38
Blow torches to the mouth."
12:40
And then it makes me wonder though, cuz that's the other thing I guess you have to think about is like maybe too how much of that is like psychological.
12:45
You know, like how much how much of a going how much of what's going on right now is like placebo. Total placebo. You know what?
12:52
I'm totally cool with that.
12:54
I'll take like the placebo effect is a real thing and I'm in it.
12:59
And you know what I also have noticed is at this point in the show typically if there's someone who's is an experienced with hot sauce as you, milk is halfway gone.
13:07
I think because we've been messing around with these other things, it's kind of made that like completely unnecessary so far, which I think is another sign, another piece of evidence that things are working.
13:18
Yeah, I deserve some credit.
13:18
Yeah, we haven't even touched the milk, you know? Look at that.
13:28
Now we're getting into the cooler.
13:30
Uh-oh, that's where you know it gets real.
13:32
I know when Gordon Ramsay come on, he did try like the citrus and that is true.
13:35
That will combat So the the capsaicin is like a base.
13:37
So the citrus could is kind of on the opposite end of the pH scale, kind of breaks it down.
13:41
So I took that one step farther.
13:43
So these are like just pure lemon ice cubes. Oh, okay.
13:48
the cooling effect along with the citrus effect.
13:52
And uh we'll just plant those right there.
13:53
I'll uh I'll I'll pass them over to you once you take a bite. Okay.
13:56
So this one is Torphin's Curse here in the seventh spot.
14:03
Oh, I took a big bite there. Oh, wow. Mhm. This one's not waiting.
14:10
It's banging down the front door. Right. Okay.
14:16
And this I will say This is where it gets real. Very real. Awesome. Okay. Wow. Mhm. What? Whoa. What the what? How do you breathe?
14:35
Should I breathe through my nose or mouth? Hold on. Where are we going?
14:39
And then like the sour ice cube is kind of kicking off some like teary-eyed physiological effects of its own. Whoa, THIS IS TRIPPY.
14:53
IT HELPS CERTAINLY WHEN IT'S IN. YEAH. WOW. By the way, is it Ooh.
14:56
Is it Is it better to chew and uh Screw science. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Survival.
15:07
Survival Survival at this point.
15:12
Is it better to chew and then swallow?
15:15
This is you know I haven't I haven't I haven't read a book. I'm not like you, Mark. I don't read books.
15:20
But uh I think that like having big chunks of spicy food, I feel like that's the that's the cramp starter.
15:26
I like to break it all down.
15:30
That was a significant knee in the curve.
15:35
I always see people like trying to touch their eyes. I'm like, "What morons?
15:36
Why do you touch your eyes?"
15:38
And But now you understand.
15:39
I want to touch my eyes so bad.
15:44
So, earlier this year you launched the Crunch Labs Build Box, which gives kids the opportunity to build a toy step-by-step using engineering principles.
15:50
And I've heard you make the point that cheap toys have the most clever designs by necessity.
15:54
What's a classic children's toy that you recognize for its STEM ingenuity that the rest of us might take for granted? Great question.
16:08
How dare you make me think under these conditions?
16:12
Um Do you know what makes a Frisbee fly?
16:14
No, but I'm on the edge of my seat. This is great. This is amazing.
16:16
So, basically, there's two things.
16:19
One is the angle of attack, which you know, when it flies, it flies a little bit like this.
16:23
So, it's bumping into stationary air molecules and basically deflecting up.
16:26
It's like conservation of momentum, right? It's a reaction.
16:28
Same thing when you put your arm out the window, it goes up and down, right?
16:32
You're bumping into air, which is a fluid, and it's causing it to go up or down. That's the first thing.
16:36
The second one, which is really fascinating, is a thing called the Coandă effect.
16:39
You ever taken a spoon and put it under like running water?
16:44
And when you put a curved spoon under water, it curves around, right? All fluids do that. The air is a fluid.
16:50
So, as this Frisbee flies through the air, you notice it's curved, right?
16:54
Basically, as it passes over the air, all the air then turns and follows the curvature down.
17:01
And basically, what's happening is it's throwing air all around it down as it flies like a jetpack.
17:08
So, like as a Frisbee goes through the air, just like if you were wearing a jetpack, how it's like you're pushing air down, which again, equal opposite reaction, makes you go up.
17:14
A Frisbee is freaking jetpacking itself through the air as it flies by, and that's what makes it fly and coast so well, which is amazing.
17:23
If you took the same frisbee and you had sharp edges, wouldn't fly nearly as well.
17:28
Um Pass me the Pass me the throat spray. Here you go. Yeah. I got you. I'm going full mouth. There we go. We're ready.
17:46
And on this, just ice cream.
17:46
I think it's a better form of milk. Okay. Here we go.
18:03
It's really not that bad.
18:07
I thought that was going to be way worse.
18:10
You're giving me that wait for it look. I'm not sure. Oh, there it is. There it is.
18:23
That's why I was giving you that look.
18:26
I texted Jimmy on my way over, Jimmy Kimmel.
18:27
He said you got to eat the whole thing. For science.
18:32
For science, AND I SAID, "OH, WOW, THAT COMES IN STRONG."
18:38
HERE, let me give you your ice cream back. Yeah, give me that back.
18:41
I'm going to take a little bit.
18:41
I'm going to clean the bone on this side. There you go. For science. For science. Clean the bone, baby.
18:50
Give me that dang ice cream. You've earned it. You've earned it. And you know what?
18:53
It's amazing that you busted out the ice cream for this wing.
18:57
Can you extol the virtues of eating ice cream with a fork, and do you still do that for efficiency? 100%.
19:04
If I would have gotten the the the utensils here, it would have been a fork.
19:12
Good knowledge, by the way.
19:14
The When your ice cream is like really hard, especially if you're using a fork, it contacts like there's smaller amount of surface area.
19:24
Bro, don't ask me to explain science.
19:26
Why have you given me the bomb?
19:32
Until it gets runny, you don't really need like a spoon. So, I use a fork.
19:39
Passes me the closest thing. There you go. Yeah.
19:41
Speaking This is actually I think of all the things, this is the most effective. Excuse me.
19:56
This is the most I mean, I've never eaten anything this spicy. I never will again.
20:08
This is the whole milk ice cubes. Oh. Mhm. Mhm.
20:25
Do you have some of those? I'm in. Oh, these are funky. Not the best taste. No, but Mhm. Any port in a storm. Any port in a storm.
20:41
So, you've been very busy this year building out a headquarters, launching shows, and then saving the ocean 1 lb of trash at a time through your collaborative fundraising effort with Mr. Beast's Team Seas.
20:50
What was the most eye-opening thing that you learned about water pollution spending time in the Dominican Republic aboard a ship that eats trash?
21:00
The most interesting thing to me there was like you see just these these mountains of trash coming down the rivers, right?
21:07
And you're just like, there's a tire, there's a a kid's toy, there's a mattress, and you're like, what kind of jerk would just pollute a river like this?
21:16
Like that just seems so obviously like not a good thing.
21:17
And so then we took a trip up the river to some of these really poor neighborhoods.
21:24
And the thing is it's like by no fault of their own, they just don't have a place to put this trash.
21:28
They are like living on landfills, right?
21:30
So the Dominican Republic, you know, the government there totally recognizes they're working on systemic solutions to this problem.
21:38
In the meantime, you know, Boyan Slat and, you know, the Ocean Cleanup, they've built this trash-eating robot as kind of a band-aid fix.
21:45
It's not supposed to be a permanent fix, and that's kind of what they say and what we were saying with Team Seas is like, this is just a temporary thing until the big problems get solved systemically, this is a stopgap measure.
21:58
And there's nothing they want more that we want more is for them to go out of business.
22:01
You know, you don't need this charitable element to suck up this trash as it comes down cuz you're solving it upstream.
22:09
It's just so exciting to see people use clever engineering to solve real-world problems.
22:13
And to know that I feel like more and more kids are getting into STEM, which I think is a good thing for the world. All right, Mark Rober. Here we go. I'm I'm going for it.
22:21
I do feel like because I've been sciencing my way out of this stuff, I'm going hard on this last dab.
22:32
Meat off the bone, Jimmy. You're watching. We're dabbing. We're dabbing.
22:35
You going to match my dab? I'm matching.
22:37
That's exactly what I'm looking for. Dab for Oh!
22:40
How big of a mistake is this, huh? Big mistake.
22:43
to recant your thing about not having playing issues?
22:45
I Well, it's your problem.
22:50
I'm going back to the hotel after this. Fair enough. Here we go. to the pool. Okay. Okay. Woah! I've been clean bomb. Oh my god. I'm finishing strong. Very strong.
23:05
What is science to behold? Mhm. Yep.
23:17
I'm going to wait as long as I can before I go to the third spray.
23:21
That's all right cuz this question it has a nice long windup. A nice long windup.
23:25
We're closing things out here and I have to say that it was such a treat to binge your channel and I love just seeing the different ways that you trick us into really caring about science using your velociraptor hunting method.
23:37
And as much as I love the greatest hits like the glitter bomb and the jello pool, I'll always when I'm watching somebody else on YouTube, I'll always be fond of the decade plus sort of backwards hat "Hey, what's up YouTube?"
23:52
kind of era of a creator.
23:52
So with that in mind, I don't know if you remember this but I have a quarter. Amazing.
24:04
And I'm wondering if you remember the way to always flip a tails. Yeah, I do. I stand up. Go ahead. Go ahead. And I'm still covered? We got you. Mitch is on it.
24:15
What you do is as you bring your arm up you turn your thumb a little bit.
24:20
You give it an off-axis rotation so it spins like this, right?
24:24
I don't know if you can see that.
24:24
So what happens is heads basically is like continuously facing up.
24:30
This works for me every time I have to do a coin flip and I want to cheat my way to win.
24:35
So like that is heads, right?
24:40
That is definitely heads.
24:40
So you can just keep you can freaking flip 10 heads in a row. Wow.
24:46
And I can see when you see that hourglass shape in the air, you know it's going to be heads. And nobody notices.
24:51
This is why by the way on big sporting events when they flip it they let it the ground, because otherwise you could grab it and sort of and sort of get the get the result you want. Wow.
25:03
Well, speaking of results, here's what I have to say here at the end. Yeah.
25:10
During the whole wing-eating thing, Yeah.
25:13
I felt like I was in a better place. Really?
25:15
After, and I don't know if it's the cumulative effect, I don't know if it's that Monster Dab, I feel awful.
25:22
As As do I'm glad the control agrees. Cuz that's how I feel.
25:31
I will never do this again. This is a mistake.
25:32
I don't know why people eat hot sauce.
25:36
Some questions science just can't answer, but look at you.
25:38
Mark Rober taking on the wings of death and living to tell the tale.
25:43
Now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
25:46
This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
25:51
I'm just on YouTube at Mark Rober.
25:51
I got the TV show Revengineers that I did on Discovery, and we just launched the Crunch Labs, which is basically a box you get every month and you make a build alongside me and I teach you to think like an engineer. Did it! Did it! THANK YOU, DUDE. YOU'RE A LEGEND.
26:13
NOW THAT THE cameras are off, Not rolling, are you? Wow. What a gauntlet, man. What a gauntlet. Here comes the birds.
26:30
Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
26:30
We brought the heat to the freezer aisle with our Hot Ones boneless chicken bites, and you smashed sales records and all of our wildest expectations. So, what did we do? We made more. That's right.
26:42
We are in with five new flavors of Hot Ones boneless chicken bites and five new ways for you to bring Hot Ones home.
26:49
From From to the classic garlic Fresno edition to the Los Calientes trio of flavor, Verde, Rojo, Barbacoa. Visit hotoneschallenge.
26:59
com for more information and to find a store near you.
27:03
Hot Ones boneless chicken bites, you're in the hot seat now.