Biologist Tim Shields has watched desert tortoise populations in the Mojave Desert plummet since the 1990s. The latest threat? Ballooning populations of ravens, thanks to increased human activity in the desert. Tired of "taking notes on a quiet catastrophe," Tim quits traditional observational biology in exchange for direct intervention. Building specialized drones, desert rovers, laser cannons, and fake exploding tortoise shells, Tim is waging a technological war on ravens in a last ditch effort to save the species, and prove that innovation, technology, and imagination may be the last hope for saving the planet.