This phenomenal little clip is from Kalahari, the first episode of BBC’s Africa series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. A golden wheel spider evades the attack of a pompilid wasp… I will leave you to watch how in the clip, but I will say this: up to 44 turns per second.

All six episodes are available in HD on Amazon Instant Video.

Robots have to be able to move, perhaps quickly, on all kinds of terrain — search and rescue missions on remote parts of Earth or explorations on other planets like Mars will require it. So terradynamic researchers at Georgia Tech are creating and testing robots that have different leg shapes, all inspired by animals, to handle movement in a variety of environments. Bonus technology: 3D printing.

Watch this robot with c-shaped legs running super fast on Mars-like sand, and read more about the experiments here or here.

h/t PopSci.

Bottle by Kirsten Lepore, a 2010 stop-motion animated story about a transoceanic, message-in-a-bottle conversation and the emotions that come with it.

We’ve featured Lepore’s work previously. You can also watch how she made Bottle in this behind the scenes vid.

Using his paraglider, photographer George Steinmetz flies above some of the most diverse and extreme deserts in the world… sand dunes, volcanic peaks, brightly colored hot springs, ancient cities, unusual farms, herds of wild animals… pattern upon amazing pattern. Look at them all online or find them in his book, Desert Air, after watching this video from National Geographic.

Painting with colored sand in a glass bottle. This was ten minutes that went by pretty quickly for us. According to the YouTube commenters, this video was in Egypt. Also, spot the camel. (Hint: It’s not in the bottle.) Related reading: Sand painting. 

Some of our favorite videos have been from watching street vendors. Previously: Candy Dragon in China and Making Tea in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Thanks, Scotty.