Chasing Nature

[petek]

Anyone catch Animal Planet's new show Chasing Nature? It's a "reality" show where Stanford engineering students attempt to mimic animal behavior. They had to make it pretty superficial to fit in the timeslot (and not lose non-geek viewers), but they touch on the challenges, frustrations and coolness of engineering - and reveal some neat stuff about how nature has solved the same problem.

The current show - Bird of Prey - gives the students five days to duplicate the claw of a raptor to catch a fish in the water from a high-wire fly-by. Not to take anything away from them, but I bet a lot of FIRST teams could've given them a run for their fish!