The time lapse growth footage was captured over a period of two to three weeks, which is the time it takes for the leaves to grow into fearsome jaws. But maybe what's even more remarkable than the images is the sound. As the fly whimpers in futile struggle, you wish your ears could cry.

I'm not even embedding the clip here because you need to go to YouTube and watch it in HD for the full experience, and also, the embedding has been disabled by BBC's request. (So you literally need to go to YouTube and watch it in HD as well.) [YouTube]

"Filming the bouncing toad was very challenging; the remote mountain plateau is one mile high and 26 square miles 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 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.

Nikon Rumors reviewed the Nikon-compatible Fabre Photo EX DSLR Stereoscopic Microscope, a $1,600 lens that pwns macro photography pretty hard.

Here's a video they captured of a millipede. So gross, but we can't look away.

Two points Nikon Rumors makes: integrated LEDs sound handy for illuminating the small subjects, but they tend to create a harsh reflection on surfaces. And, yes, the microscope lens is every bit as "fun" as you'd imagine.

Lots more test shots over at: [Nikon Rumors]

You'll want to use the lens in there, along with some kind of cardboard holder, and mount it onto your cellphone camera. It won't be pretty, but the shots that come out will (provided everything you're shooting from now on is within an inch of your camera). [Flickr via DIY Photography via MAKE]

Is this as good as a real macro lens? Of course not. But this costs a few bucks for the tape whereas the real lens costs hundreds to thousands of dollars. Check the video to see how to do it. [Lifehacker]

The Price: $35

The Verdict: It works, and better than I expected. In search of some interesting test subjects, I turned to the latest Chicago magazine, mostly because I haven't had a good steak in forever. With each shot taken from a few inches away, you can judge the Clarifi for yourself.

Without Clarifi

With Clarifi

Without Clarifi

With Clarifi

Which steak would you rather eat? Of course, there's still the worthwhile question of whether or not it's worth $35 to get macro on your iPhone. But for what it's worth, the case itself feels great in the hand, with just the right mix of plastic and rubber. If you're the type who insists on putting a case on your phone, then why not get something a little extra out of it? Then again, the reception option might be more worthwhile. [Griffin]

The Warboard also comes with 17 swappable combat keys to specify movement directions, weapon selection, reloading, chat and a few others. Chances are pretty good that the picture labels will be entirely useless (what pro looks down when he's blowing shit up?), but you can't have a proper Warboard without guns and knives as keys. It's nice to see the letters printed on the WASD-arrows. Sure, we're all probably strong typists around here, but it maintains your keyboard's functionality. It'll be interesting to see if you can get more Warboard combat keys in the future. The current selection is pretty much only good for your gun-and-guts FPS games, though all those macros will have fans of other genres taking note.

The keyboard comes in black with what Cyber Snipa terms an "armor plate" finish, a full set of tactile keys including 10 multimedia keys, the ability to disable the Windows key with the push of a button, and a suggested retail pricetag of $69.99.

From the press release:

CYBER SNIPA® ANNOUNCES NEW AND EXCITING WARBOARD KEYBOARD FOR GAMING ENTHUSIASTS
The New and Unique Warboard is the Ultimate Gaming Keyboard

Designed for Elite Gaming Enthusiasts

Sydney, Australia, - Cyber Snipa, a leading manufacturer and marketer of unique and revolutionary PC gaming products and peripherals, today announces the U.S. debut of the Warboard, a new one-of-a-kind gaming keyboard. The Warboard features intelligent macro programmable keys for customizable gameplay and gives users the tactical support they need to defeat any opponent in PC Gaming. The Warboard is currently shipping with a suggested retail price of $69.99.

The Warboard keyboard is custom built to cater to the demanding requirements of professional gamers and is ideal for fast-paced First Person Shooter, Real Time Strategy, Role Playing and MMO gaming. The Warboard is packed with novel, high-end features to help dominate the competition.

"The Team at Cyber Snipa has a long-standing, proud tradition of bringing PC gamers high quality, innovative, and unique gaming products and peripheral devices. The new Warboard gaming keyboard is no exception," states Gavin Bernstein, Director of Sales and Marketing for Cyber Snipa. "The Warboard will truly revolutionize the gaming experience. The unique Macro-Force software, removable custom keys and sleek ergonomic design all work to ensure a competitive advantage for the novice and professional PC gamer alike."

The Warboard's proprietary Macro-Force software allows users to automate in-game actions. This software allows gamers to set the macro keys as hotkeys for any combination or sequence of keystrokes, mouse movements and mouse clicks that the user desires. With the simple press of a single key, users see repetitive actions completed with total accuracy and efficiency. The Warboard comes equipped with five macro keys on both the far left and far right hand sides, making a total of 10 physical macro keys. At the top of the keyboard next to the media hotkeys is a "macro mode" button. When this is pressed the macros keys switch to either the first or second profile, extending the Warboard's maximum amount of assignable macro keys to 20.

The Warboard includes a full set of 17 replaceable combat keys. Colored differently to the other keys — a light gray instead of the standard black — the replaceable combat keys are a great way to ensure a user's hand stays where it should be when gaming. This is particularly helpful for novice gamers. The replaceable combat keys — with symbols such as a knife, a pistol and sub-machine gun — help guide the user in gameplay and ensures their keyboard stands out from the others at LAN parties.

The Warboard has a windows key lock button that essentially deactivates the windows key — a must-have for all gamers. This negates the possibility of accidentally opening the Windows Start menu while in the process of gaming. The Warboard also offers a full array of media hotkeys including volume up and down, mute, forward, back and stop. Also included is a Home, E-mail browser and Find hotkey.

Today more than ever, gamers are demanding high quality PC gaming equipment. The Warboard comes with a sleek "Armor Plate" finish, offers a unique anti-ghosting key architecture and responsive tactile key feedback, which all work to guarantee top-of-the-line performance and to deliver the best gaming experience possible to the user.

The Warboard retail box comes with the Warboard keyboard, a palm rest, an instruction manual with warranty, a CD installation disk, 17 replacement combat keys and a key removal tool.

Cyber Snipa will be promoting the Warboard and its other high-end PC gaming products this summer and holiday season with its reseller partners including Amazon, Dell, CircuitCity.com, Tiger Direct, Radio Shack, DataVision, Tech Depot, Xoxide, Crazy PC and Frozen CPU, among others. These promotions will be comprised of Mail-In Rebates, LAN Event sponsorships and various prize giveaways.

Coming in telephoto, wide and macro varieties, these lenses—which you crudely attach with a magnet—ensure that you will make the very most out of that, ooh, 1 megapixel your phone camera is capable of shooting.

All this pointless novelty doesn't come cheap either—at 7000-yen (approx. $57) each you would expect Ansel Adams-like results. But I believe that all you'll elicit is a lot of people saying "hey, what the hell is that on your phone?" to your chagrin and shame.

Conversion lenses for mobile phone cameras [Livedoor]