Hasta La Gadget!

The demand for minerals is skyrocketing—not just for rare earths like neodymium, europium, and cerium used in the iPhone 5, but phosphorous and coal too. As that demand rises, miners must dig deeper into the ground. But the lower they go, the more dangerous the job becomes—71 miners died in 2010 in the US alone. This automated mineral transportation train, however could boost mining production without jeopardizing lives. More »

Taco Cannon? Taco Cannon. Created by the mexican restaurant Torchy’s for this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, this modified t-shirt cannon will be making several scheduled appearances. All the video of this thing in action on YouTube suck. If you shoot or find something better send it to us. [Upproxx and TMDaily] More »

You’ve never seen baseball like this. While HD and slow-motion replays have become old hat for MLB broadcasts, this post-season, FOX Sports is determined to document this year’s action in unprecedented detail—capturing at-bats by the microsecond. And this pair of ultra-high-speed Phantom cameras is how they’ll do it. More »

Sand Tiger sharks have been patrolling coastal waters worldwide for more than 250,000 years. But with only a pair of pups born every few years, this placid apex predator is succumbing to human pressures. Part of the problem is that we still know virtually nothing about their habits—we can’t help them if we don’t understand them. But that’s fast changing thanks to this seawater-sipping, shark-shadowing, scientific submersible. More »

While it’s a shame that the Fukushima disaster could well have been prevented, you can only dwell on the past for so long. If Japan is to move on from this disaster, the Fukushima facility must come down. But how does one disassemble such a highly radioactive structure? One research team hopes the solution involves this new generation of radiation-shielding, strength-magnifying exo-suits. More »