“Filming the bouncing toad was very challenging; the remote mountain plateau is one mile (1.6km) high and 26 square miles (67sqkm) in area, whilst the toad is one inch long and very elusive. The tarantulas which prey on them are also very hard to find. To give the crew the best chance of finding and filming them, the expert on these creatures came on the shoot. He searched for a week before the crew’s arrival to find both species and a location where they could come together and where the toad would demonstrate its bouncing-ball method of escape. This allowed the cameraman to set up his slow-motion camera in the right place. The scientist was able to ensure that the toad was never in danger of being harmed by the tarantula as a result of us filming them. The technique was a total success — the toad tucked its legs in, rolled and bounced, allowing the crew to film its method of escape in slow-motion detail.”

“A Jesus Christ lizard running on water is so fast that a human would have to run at 65 miles per hour (105km/h) to achieve the same trick. The speed makes it an enormous challenge to film. After consulting with a scientist at Harvard University who has made a ground-breaking study of the lizard’s water sprint, the crew decided that as well as filming the behaviour at normal frame rates they would attempt to capture the close up details of the lizard’s run with a slow-motion camera filming at 2000 frames per second (i.e. slowed down by 80 times).

It’s very hard to predict exactly where and when a lizard will run, what’s more it’s all so quick that once the lizard is spotted it’s gone in a blur! Learning from the scientist’s observation methods was essential and as a result it was decided to film the details of the sprint would need some degree of control to ensure that the crew had some idea of where and when the lizard would run. They travelled to Belize, home of the lizard, to work with local animal experts who had some lizards in natural forest enclosures. If, and when, these lizards decided to run, they always ran along the same stretch of water, where the cameraman could station his camera.

The key to success was using the latest digital slow-motion camera that continuously records into a memory buffer, so that when the cameraman hits the trigger button he downloads the action that took place a second or so before that moment. Whenever a lizard sprinted past the cameraman over the water the cameraman hit the trigger, desperately trying to keep the lizard in the frame and in focus. The final end result of this was stunning, slow motion shots of the lizards, with every drop of water visible as they sprinted through the surface.”

OK, we don’t actually have any notes on how this was shot. But the macro shot of water beading up on the gecko’s hydrophobic skin is gorgeous.

The above clips are from Episode 2: Reptiles and Amphibians. The series is playing now on BBC One.

As part of a BBC science show called Bang Goes the Theory, inventor Jem Stansfield climbed up the side of the 140-foot BBC building using “vacuum gloves” made from an ordinary vacuum cleaner.

We don’t know much about the actual gloves, seemingly built from plywood and a couple of dustbusters, so we’ve got a bit of doubt about the whole enterprise, especially as it’s described by the BBC itself as a “stunt.” But whatever: There’s a guy climbing the side of a building! [BBC News via Geekologie]

As an American who has lived in the UK for four years now, let me tell you: this is a good thing. The BBC produces a ton of channels and a wide variety of content, the best of which never seems to make its way to BBC America, which actually shows content from second and third tier British networks as much as it does actual BBC program(me)s. Plus, trade balance! Any American version would have to add advertising to the Beeb’s generally untainted Broadcasts, but hell, we’re used to that. [Telegraph]

The Japanese have vending machines dispensing treats when an emergency strikes and the British, not to be outdone, now have one that dispenses snacks when the BBC reports something bad about the economy.

The machine hack is actually an art project designed and created by Ellie Harrison as part of her residency at the Plymouth College of Art. The little monitor you see at the right is actually tracking the BBC’s RSS feed, and whenever the aforementioned doom and gloom comes over the wire, someone’s getting something sugary.

The innards were programmed by Ben Dembroski using PureData and Python, while project2891 was implemented alongside i-DAT to activate messaging on the GreenScreen. In other words, free candy! And, this thing must get refilled, a lot. [Ellie Harrison via Make via noquedanblogs- Thanks, Sabino]

How does a U.K. man deliver a baby in this age of high technology and search engines? Just point your browser to the “How to Have a Baby in a Car” YouTube video. Poof. Delivered.

Reports the BBC:

Marc Stephens watched the videos as a precaution when his wife Jo started to feel some discomfort.

Four hours later, his wife went into labour and started giving birth before an ambulance could arrive at their home in Redruth. “I Googled how to deliver a baby, watched a few videos and basically swotted up,” Mr Stephens told the BBC.

That said, don’t let Stephens fool you. He’s a natural. “This is our fourth child now and while for our first I spent most of the time at my wife’s head, now I’m not afraid to go down to the business end.”

Truly, a heart-warming story in an age that sees despicable baby-related smartphone apps being approved for the general populace without missing a beat. [BBC News via Google Blogoscoped]

It snowed in England this winter, which to my surprise apparently doesn’t happen very often. I’m not sure if this camera was supposed to be used for something other than watching people slip on ice and fall down (right on their butts! Ha!), but that’s certainly the end product. Here’s a little clip of it, but you really have to go to the BBC’s site to see the whole thing. [BBC via Boing Boing]

Accompanied by a card-like carrying case/base station, the Zumba slips out into an earpiece shaped like one of those old fossilised spiral shellfish. The entire assembly sits on your head, and operates all functions, including texting, through voice commands.

Our lovely presenter can’t tell us anything interesting about how this technology works (or more realistically, will one day work), other than that it is linked to some kind of cloud system, much like Google’s iPhone voice app. She enthusiastically blames this on extreme secrecy, but it sounds more like second-hand PR speak to me. Also, her demonstration unit appears to be a dummy, and there’s no sign that the touted speech recognition capabilities exist yet either.

The Zumba will apparently ship before next year. Or, IA Technology will explode into a massive cloud of unsent patent applications and investors’ £100 notes. Either way, we have our eyes on you, Zumba. [BBC]

AU: This is actually available in Australia, and even includes our own local ABC news!

Television is only an aggregator–meaning all of the content available already exists out on the web for free. And, it only works on wi-fi, which is unfortunate. But the list of available shows is pretty decent:

USA

CNN – Now in the News, In Case You Missed
CBS – Eye to Eye, Face the Nation
NBC – Nightly News, Meet the Press
CNBC – Fast Money
Comedy Central – Standup Highlights
VH1 – Celebrity Rehab, The Pickup Artists
Onion Networkk – All videos
College Humor TV – All videos
Digg.TV – Diggnation
CNET – First Look, Buzz Report
Discovery Channel – Highlights
National Geographic – Highlights
MTV – MTV News, music videos
NBA – News and match highlights

UNITED KINGDOM

BBC – Highlights from Top Gear, Torchwood, Goodness Gracious, QI
SKY – Sky News
ITN – News and Showbizz
Megawhat.Tv – Tech News

FRANCE

TF1 – Le Journal, Météo
M6 – Six Minutes
BFM – Première Edition
iTele – iTele News

GERMANY

RTL – News, Aktuell, Wetter, Exclusiv
ARD – Tagesschau, Das Wetter
NDR – Ratgeber Technik
WDR – Die Sendung mit der Maus, Käptn Blaubär
ZDF – Heute, Wetten Dass Backstage, Aktuelle Sportstud

Now, Hulu–you must be working on an iPhone app, right? When can we see it? [Television - iTunes - $3.99]

Who could have guessed that the most prescient technologist of our day would be a relatively unknown British sketch comedian?

Peter Serafinowicz, of the possibly acclaimed Peter Serafinowicz Show, has put together a couple videos in the style of Apple’s stodgy online product demonstration videos, imagining two new products from the company. The iToilet, below, is relatively uninspired (it’s funny because it’s impossible, and something to do with bathrooms! Ha!) but the Mactini is kind of fantastic. Not to mention Serafinowicz’s wonderfully convincing half-Jobs, half-generic-demo-guy character, who is only a wandering eye outside of fitting right into Apple’s product tour rotation. UPDATE: It turns out that Serafinowsicz is partially responsible for the hilarious Look Around You series, so this sketch is no fluke. The vids are taken from his forthcoming Christmas special sketch show, which you can preview here. [Cult of Mac]