Man vs. Cartoon is an American popular science

Popular science

Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...

 television program airing on truTV. The premise of the show is that students and researchers at New Mexico Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center

Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center

The Energetic Materials Research and Training Center is a research division of New Mexico Tech, which performs testing of high explosives, bombs, and other munitions, as well as the means to deliver such munitions. It also offers courses for emergency responders in bomb response. EMRTC's offices...

 attempt to re-create contraptions and situations found in Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner

Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...

 cartoons. Each episode begins with one or two cartoon clips that the competitors then try to re-create, attempting to succeed in killing the Road Runner where the Coyote had failed. In the first episode, for example, the students re-create a Rube Goldberg machine

Rube Goldberg machine

A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction...

 featured in Wild About Hurry

Wild About Hurry

Wild About Hurry is a 1959 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series featuring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner .-Plot:...

that begins with a slingshot

Slingshot

A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...

and involves a large number of steps, culminating in a cannon shot.

Episode list

EP#	Title	Airdate