Hi, I’m Mike


You may have seen me on TV hosting Punkin’ ChunkinHow Stuff Works, and Catch It Keep It on Discovery Channel, or perhaps on Fuse TV’s Rock and Roll Acid Test (you can watch all episodes here). I explain and build crazy machines that crush stuff, blow things up, shoot fire, all in the name of science.

Off camera, I create (and help others tell) content about science and technology. I’m currently directing the content initiatives for artificial-intelligence tech startup Edge Impulse. I was Executive Editor of Make: magazine from 2013 to 2022, where I helped conceive and build high-tech creations and shared stories about imaginative people making incredible projects around the globe. I was a Senior Editor at Wired magazine, and have written for top publications ranging from Gizmodo to Triathlete to ReadyMade. I also run my own DIY project blog, DOIT.

I also teach workshops about science and engineering. And I’m a big camera geek who loves to capture the interesting things in life on film and video. Thanks for looking at my work — I hope you drop a note to say hello.

My RRAT highlight reel

IMDB • Wikipedia • Lifehacker interview • Kara Swisher’s Recode Decode Podcast

My bio, from IMDB:

Ever since his dad taught him how to use a power drill at age three, Mike Senese has never met a piece of machinery he wasn’t dying to take apart.

Graduating from remote control vehicles to robotics to reviving a 39-foot, 26 ton 1963 caboose, he immersed himself into the dynamic worlds of physics, electronics and mechanical engineering.

At 16, he spent his first summer abroad, promoting public health by constructing latrines in the Ecuadorian Andes.  A few years later, he rebuilt his 1973 Land Rover bumper to bumper to explore the Arizona desert.

As the science co-host of Fuse TV’s “Rock and Roll Acid Test,” Mike applied technical know-how to challenge the most extreme urban legends of rock music.

Until Hollywood came calling, Mike had been living in San Francisco where he worked at Wired and ReadyMade magazines and piloted a paramedic helicopter in his spare time.