we're about to investigate how far and wide my nasal secretions may travel if I had a cold now I don't have a cold we're going to achieve my cold by Jamie giving me a mechanical cold which is a drip rig that will be strapped to my face and slowly dripping a fluorescing fluid jamie has carefully selected a non-toxic fluorescent dye that's invisible to the naked eye but will glow orange under a blacklight to ensure there is no cross-contamination he first checks the table okay the space is clean and I don't see any marks on you I think we're good to go then Jamie starts the nasal drip and leaves Adam to some modelling I'm ready to start constructing I'll start the timer now good luck hey remember their testing to see if adam's pseudo-snot will spread far and wide and after an hour of building gluing and wiping 60 milliliters of fluid has dripped through the nose rig okay so times up we get to see how far your nasal secretions went excellent all right let's do it oh my gosh look at that that is wait look at my face that's disgusting I like just cover with it you are the table the plane and atom are lit up like a dance party with a trail of snot or neon dye on everything atom is touched while we set out to construct an experiment whereby we could track my nasal secretions and I have to say I think we've done stunningly they seem to have gotten absolutely everywhere everything on this table has a little touch of orange on it that's the name of my cover band touch of orange obviously adam's pseudo-snot got everywhere which is amazing given that it was coming out a tiny droplet at a time but what does this mean as far as transmitting a cold virus or a flu well to find that out we've got to introduce people and so that's what we're gonna do next [Music] if someone nearby has a runny nose can they spread their snot to you just by being closest to find out the Mythbusters are throwing a party soon I will have six guests or as I like to call them test subjects having a party with me under test conditions these conditions are three of my guests are gonna behave as germaphobes three of my guests have no idea what's happening I will be spreading my nasal secretions far and wide while performing a series of normal party-like tasks cake toasts games what-have-you at the end of all of this we're gonna flick out the lights turn on the ultraviolet lights and see how far I've been able to spread my secretions now if you'll excuse me I need to get into makeup so it's not to reveal what's being tested to our guests guinea pigs special effects artist Danny gives Adam a nose job oh is this a little bit restrictive but not bad a lot better than a band-aid with Adam in the chair Jamie prepares our three germaphobe guests welcome to the party thank you so this is how this is gonna work Adam has a cold and your job is not to get that cold you still have to stay here you can't just leave but you don't want to catch us cold all right sounds good Kari grant and Tory will try their germaphobe best not to pick up Adams nasal secretions however the control group the remaining three guests will have no idea Adam is even secreting Oh pearl nice to meet you Adam just wiped his nose now he's shaking hands that stuff's getting everywhere while Jamie tracks the contamination Adams rig will drip at exactly the rate a human nose runs 60 milliliters an hour oh we're gonna have a fun little party here are you guys ready yeah I'm sorry I've got a little little bit of a stuffy nose but this should all be very cool we're gonna have some cake we're gonna have a couple of games and a little well not actual champagne but some bubbly remember the goal is to find out if Adam will pass on his pseudo secretions to his guests through the normal activity of a party thank you very much thank you thanks for participating in my own science experiment your support and just like any host with a runny nose Adams using a handkerchief okay yes yeah you want a big slice or a little slice but it soon becomes clear that the same hand he uses to wipe his nose is also passing everything to his guests so we're getting some good contact here we've got him handling the plates the forks those are being passed over with any luck each one of those has been marked although our trio of germaphobes keep an eye on exactly what Adams touching the unprepared guests have no idea what's being passed around okay it looks like it as he's pouring he's touching them on the shoulder so each one of those is a mark there ain't no party like a Mythbusters party and although the good times and the dice roll eventually the fun must come to an end thanks again but of course our test subjects are still in the dark and the moment he's come for the big snotty reveal what was going on was that I had a mechanical runny nose hey little tube running down the side of my nose dripping a fluorescing fluid the goal was to see how far my nasal secretions might travel if I had a cold and who might get those on them to give you an idea about how much it spread on me alone normally my skin would not fluoresce under black light are you ready Adam may look like a radioactive clown but has he spread his radioactive red spot first off the unknowing guest guinea pigs Leigha let's see those hands hold them up into the light oh yeah they all bear the tell-tale signs of contamination but what about our germaphobe trio despite their best efforts grant and tory couldn't escape the neal correct let's see like that avoid shaking your hand Tory Oh Tory Tory has even ended up with snot on his face Kari however is a different story I have to confess I'm actually a germaphobe so this was not too hard for me and I'm not surprised that did this well I incredible so how many of us got colds I'd say five out of the six of you have been legitimately exposed with only a 30-minute dinner party and one typhoid mary so even though I knew Adam had a fake cold I was still kind of grossed out by the idea so I kind of employed all of my usual techniques not to get sick I didn't touch anything or anywhere that he touched when he handed me something I wiped it off with my napkin practiced hygiene fiend Kari managed to avoid contact but for her colleagues social convention made it a lot harder he's trying to be this gracious host and he's filling up my glass he's handing me pretzels and I'm trying to be polite and avoid anything that he's touchy but I mean a certain point you can't help it anymore right at the very end of dinner as we were saying our good-byes Adam stuck out his hand and I had to shake it and you know what if someone sticks out their head you can't avoid shaking it and that that's where he got me with five out of six guests infected at a dinner table that's more neon than not where does this leave the myth it's really impressive to me that viruses have found the one place on the human body not only capable of producing enough fluid but doing it in such a way that human hands are inclined to mop that fluid up and then they can spread themselves and propagate really quickly look around me look at how far and wide my secretions have spread to everywhere on this table next time you think you've got an innocuous runny nose think again [Music]