Awesome Dangerous

Longboarding down steep and twisty roads looks like quite the thrill. But it can also be quite dangerous. Boarder Josh Neuman compiled this video of 10 of his most butt-clenching downhill moments. Between the blind corners, steep drop-offs, roadside hazards, and unexpected vehicles, this is one pastime best left to the experts.

We’ve all seen the old baking soda and vinegar volcano experiment at some point. The Action Lab shows off a far more energetic and long-lasting mini volcano, but it requires the use of a toxic chemical that needs to be handles very carefully.

The Japanese sport of Bo-Taoshi is one of the craziest games we’ve ever seen. The chaotic war game pits teams against each other as they attempt to knock a player off the top of a pole, guarded by dozens of defenders at its base. It’s kind of like Capture the Flag, but the flag is a man.

The Hydraulic Press Channel loves to subject things to the force of its 150-ton press. Here’s a compilation of some of the strongest, most dangerous, and most satisfying crushes over the years. It’s also a great demonstration of the varying strengths of different metals.

Launching watermelons from a catapult sounds like a lot of fun, but launching humans seems like a terrible idea. The guys from TKOR teamed up with Jake Makes to build a catapult with a tub at one end that can fire a person into the air. At least they aimed it at a deep pond. Needless to say, don’t try anything like this at home.

If you’re not careful, you can cut yourself while trimming hair with scissors. But in the case of these automatic shears made by Joel Creates, you’re practically guaranteed that you’ll draw blood. He then gave the terrifying motorized scissors to a hairdresser to see how they worked in the hands of a professional.

Dolos are specially-shaped concrete blocks that are used to protect harbors and breakwaters. Parkour athlete Brodie Pawson only sees them as an obstacle to be crossed. We watched in awe as he chased his pal Michael Khedoori across a field of the 80-ton blocks along the Australian coastline without slipping.

Shooting an apple off of someone else’s head with an arrow is a classic archery trick. But this crazy sequence is the first time we’ve ever seen someone shoot an apple off her own head. The clip comes from a 2015 episode of America’s Got Talent, and the woman behind the crossbow is Silvia Silvia.

Fire breathing is usually a solo endeavor, but not for these guys who turned it into a team activity. Derrick Vermin and his pals pulled off this amazing trick known as the Ascending Dragon, passing fire from one daredevil to another and climbing from the ground floor to the roof of a building.

The guys from BIT – BASE Inspired Travels climbed to the top of this abandoned wind turbine so they could jump off of it. The unusual Ferris wheel design of the windmill is just as interesting to look at as the brief 50-meter dive into the fog. We’d love to see footage of the climb, though.

Enduro racer Mani Lettenbichler takes us behind the scenes of the Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble, also known as the hardest dirt bike race in the world. The race takes place in a steep, rocky, rutted, and unforgiving mine in Austria. Sadly, the 2021 event was canceled due to the pandemic, but the race will return in 2022.

It’s been a while since we checked in on PhotonicInduction’s dangerous and destructive electrical experiments. With 1000 amps running through the blade of a kitchen knife, it glows a brilliant reddish-orange and can surely slice through much more than a stick of butter. But how long until the knife itself fails?

Outside of Bangkok, Thailand, adrenaline junkies pilot longtail wood boats with modified car engines that can make 500 hp or more. The boats can hit speeds upwards of 70 mph (112 km/h) as their captains steer inches from their powerful motors. CB Media offers a first-hand look at one of the world’s most bonkers activities.

Capacitors are capable of storing large amounts of energy and releasing it quickly. The Backyard Scientist teamed up with Peter Sripol and William Osman to show just how dangerous capacitors can be by subjecting a variety of objects to the power stored in a 20,000-volt bank of capacitors. Don’t even think of trying this at home.

In Far Cry 6, you’ll be able to craft weapons from junk. Among the possibilities is a gun that fires CDs as projectiles. The guys over at Hacksmith Industries teamed up with UbiSoft to build a real-world replica of the dangerous device and finally gives us a use for all of those old AOL CD-ROMs.

It takes time and effort to learn to throw a boomerang and have it come back to you. But even if we had all the boomerang throwing skills in the world, we wouldn’t attempt what Master S. Kamaraj of Vajram Warriors does – throwing and catching a boomerang with an axe head. He also has done it with a double-sided axe head.

We’ve really been enjoying the wacky inventions on Handy Geng’s YouTube channel. Among them is this metal chair that ensures whoever sits in it won’t fall asleep. It uses a set of terrifying spring-loaded spikes that pop out of its seat, and a goofy motion-sensor hat that triggers them if its occupant starts to nod off.

There are a number of legitimate robot lawnmowers on the market today, but none are as quite as exciting as the one that I Did a Thing built for himself. Instead of navigating on its own, this robot features an FPV remote control setup, and it looks terrifying. We cringed every time we saw him walking near it without shoes on.

Kids who grew up in the 1980s and before could almost certainly count on their toys to offer some risk of injury. But thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the fear of lawsuits, they’re far tamer these days. The Backyard Scientist teamed up with William Osman and Peter Sripol to Make Toys Dangerous Again.

A while back, Hacksmith Industries built a working lightsaber with a terrifying 4000º plasma blade. Now James is here to test whether there’s a safe way to put his hand into its beam, along with a lesson on the physics of heat transfer.

Mr. Michal shows off a metal truck that incorporates a multi-fire rocket launcher in its bed. Loaded up with gunpowder, it puts on quite a spectacle, but the danger level rises precipitously with the addition of ball-bearing projectiles. Yep, don’t try this at home. Leave it to the YouTube “professionals.”

(PG-13) Self-proclaimed professional idiot Steve-O returns to Hot Ones for another round of butt-burning sauces. For the season 14 (yep, that’s right) finale, the daredevil and comedian is back to outdo himself while he talks about his most ill-advised stunts, his love for skateboarding, and immortalizing his exploits on video.

After creating a robot that gives haircuts to humans, Shane from Stuff Made Here has bestowed one of his robots with a far more dangerous tool than a set of clippers. While his chainsaw-wielding robot arm is designed for carving shapes from foam blocks, we could see it taking off an arm if there’s any bug in his programming.

Inspired by LockPickingLawyers‘ videos showing how to use a gunpowder-loaded nail gun to break padlocks, The Backyard Scientist wanted to build something a bit more powerful. His goal? Build a weapon that can punch and smash through bricks. It’s also way better at breaking locks, and works as a demolition tool.

We watched in amazement as BASE jumpers Espen Fadnes and Andreas Haaland Hemli jumped off of a mountain in Norway in the dark of night, then lit up their flight path with brilliant flares attached to their feet. We thought we were watching a missile launch.

The Backyard Scientist conducts another ill-advised and dangerous experiment by loading himself and a bucket of molten aluminum into a cherry picker, then ascending to 50 feet before pouring the metal into an aquarium on the ground. We’d like to say this was for science, but it’s clearly just for the spectacle.