Texas A&M University is going to blow stuff up in the name of science . At worst, they’re definitely proving that you’re a sucker if you choose any other field of scientific research other than the one where you get to explode stuff to learn how to mitigate damage from real-world explosion hazards.

Inside its newly launched Detonation Research Test Facility (DRTF), researchers now have the largest academic lab on Earth dedicated to controlled explosions. It’s a carefully engineered facility designed to recreate terrifyingly destructive forces and, hopefully, control them enough to be able to better understand them.

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At the center of the facility is an almost 500-foot tube filled with a methane-air mixture. When ignited, it produces a shockwave that can reach speeds of Mach 5.…