Swimmers push against the water's surface not unlike South American basilisk lizards, which can scamper on top of water by slapping their big feet against the surface.

MSN: Fastest swimmers make webbed hands out of water

And so Hermione Granger, that charming grind, still goes to the Hogwarts library and spends hours and hours working her way through the stacks, finding out what a basilisk is or how to make a love potion.

NEWYORKER: The Information

The lightweight plastic and carbon fiber robot, which is the newest member of a supposed zoo of animal-inspired devices from CMU's NanoRobotics Lab, owes its gravity-defying skills to research done by Harvard University biologists on the basilisk, or Jesus, lizard.

ENGADGET: The miraculous CMU Water Runner

But because of the Academies Bill's timetable, "we have the spectacle of ministers who have already told us they will accept no amendment, period, and the sight of whips new and old cracking their knuckles off-stage and perfecting basilisk-like stares in the mirror" to prevent MPs voting for any changes, he said.

BBC: MP accuses government of intimidating backbenchers