Defying the Immutable Laws of Nature
Every once in a while, a group of fun-loving individuals comes up with the idea of rewriting the laws of physics (for the record, these laws contain a fair number of boring codicils) in the interests of scientific progress – and occasionally, with nary a hint of shame, in the pursuit of lunacy. This is perfectly acceptable, of course. But walking on water? Or better still, on it?
Okay, so they caught us. Our (somewhat lame) explanation is that we punted the Liquid Mountaineering video without paying proper attention to its content, assuming that these guys had come up with some form of snowshoe adapted for er... water-walking. The “waterproof shoe” scene should have given the game away, and if we’d paid attention, we might have spotted the subtle branding, too.
Anyway, we think it was a fun, imaginative concept, and fully deserving of its viral status (over 4 million YouTube views when we last checked). If a few people are annoyed at being taken in, perhaps they should get a life. While the debate rages, and the Hi-Tec brand scores some useful attention, we offer a couple of water-runners – one of them authentically home-grown.
First up is an insect known as a water strider, which relies on water’s surface tension to support its tiny weight. Interestingly, researchers from South Korea’s Seoul National University have discovered a way to create robots that mimic this feat. While they’re working on it, check out the video showcasing a couple of other robots that were inspired by Nature.
Then there’s the Puzey Pumpabike, conceived and built by local inventor Mike Puzey: the video tells the story.
Related material:
* Video: Walking on water (Liquid Mountaineering)
* Video: The making of Liquid Mountaineering
