The West Mata undersea volcano, located 200 kilometers from Samoa, erupted in May. Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent the remotely operated underwater vehicle Jason to record the explosive action. In addition to tossing up lava and chunks of rock, West Mata also released a significant amount of sulfuric acid into the water, rendering its acidity somewhere between battery acid and stomach acid. The research team collected various samples and is analyzing them and the footage to better understand these deep sea eruptions and the life that exists around these deep underwater volcanoes. Meanwhile, we get a spectacular view of the eruption itself.

Cameras catch underwater volcano in the act [Science News]

Sound Isolating Headphones: The first step to relaxing is cutting yourself off from the irritating, irritating world around you. The Shure SE115m+ earbuds are a great choice for iPhone-owners, as they pair quality sound isolation with a mic and three-button remote. $120 [Shure SE115m+ via Link]

The Buddha Machine: If your giftee needs something to listen to to relax with those sound-isolating headphones, try the Buddha Machine. It's a little box that contains a bunch of blissful ambient sound loops. Simply turn the dial to pick your loop and listen via the built-in speaker or through headphones. Bonus: it's cheap. $23 [Buddha Machine; Link]

Flower for PS3: While many violent video games can up your stress level instead of taking it down, Flower is the opposite. In this "game," you control a flower flying over peaceful meadows in the breeze. That's it! No violence, no guns, no heavy metal. Just a flower and a breeze. $10 [Flower; Kotaku]

Fondue Maker: Is there anything that eases stress better than a steaming pot of melted cheese? How about dipping bread and apples into said cheese? Sure, fondue has been around forever and hasn't been "cool" in a long time, but whatever. It's hot goddamned cheese. Who are you to argue with that? This Cuisinart is the one we use ourselves, and swear by. $45 [Amazon]

SurfShelf Treadmill Laptop Stand: There are plenty of studies out there that show a clear link between stress and lack of exercise. So if your friend is always be on the computer and always stressed, you can help by allowing him or her to work through some of that stress on the treadmill without making them tear themselves away from the precious internet. $40; treadmill sold separately [SurfShelf; Link]

A Sensory Deprivation Tank Experience: There's no better way to melt away the stress of the world than cutting yourself off from said world as much as humanly possible. With a sensory deprivation tank, they'll be able to relax while floating on salt water, completely protected from all the stressful sights and sounds of the world we're stuck existing in. About $100 for 90 minutes [Sensory Deprivation Directory]

Volcano Vaporizer: Want to relax? I'll get you f'n' relaxed. Twenty minutes with this bad boy, the pinnacle of paraphernalia, and you won't even be able to remember what was stressing you out. $540 [Volcano Vaporizer; Review; Alternative Uses]

Don't Get: Wall Street Journal Subscription: The last thing anyone who's tweaking needs right now is a daily reminder of how screwed up the world and it's economy is. Let them live their lives in blissful unawareness as much as possible. It's a gift they'll appreciate without realizing it. $119 [Wall Street Journal]

Insane Graphics Card Packs 2GB Memory and Six (Yes, Six) DisplayPort Ports

Rumor has it that AMD is set to announce a new, and 100% ridiculous, flagship card: The Radeon HD 5870. The 5870, if the rumors are correct, will have 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a whopping six DisplayPort ports, not to mention dual DVI ports and an HDMI. Clock speed and GPU speed are relatively normal at 4800MHz and 850MHz, respectively. It'll require two PCI-E slots, which is reasonable considering the spec excess. It ends up here in Remainders because the only source we've seen is a post on Softpedia, and while it's certainly crazy, we're not sure how big the market is for a six-port graphics card. [Softpedia via Tom's Hardware via Crunchgear]

Volcano Prevention Efforts May Result in Volcano Eruption

Geologists working in Campi Flegrei, a caldera in Naples, Italy, are concerned about the volcano's possibility of eruption, so understandably they're doing a little drilling to figure out exactly what the risk is. Unfortunately, the seven 4-km holes they have to drill could have exactly the opposite effect from preventing an eruption—there's a distinct risk that the drilling itself could trigger an eruption, which could well wipe out the entirety of urban Naples. If they hit magma, the sudden rise in temperature would vaporize their drilling liquid, causing an explosion which could in turn trigger an eruption. It's a sexy and dangerous headline, but it winds up in Remainders because, well, the risk doesn't seem all that great: 4km wouldn't even be halfway deep enough to reach any known reservoirs of magma, so it's probably a moot point. [New Scientist via Pop Sci]

Makeshift Bike Rack Attaches to Street Signs

The CycleHook is a dual-looped piece of metal that locks securely onto pretty much any signpost, creating two sweet parking spots for bicyclists. It's a pretty good idea—I'm a cyclist, and I can confirm that most cities don't provide enough spots to lock up a bike, and sometimes traffic cops get snippy when you chain up to a signpost on the sidewalk. The problem with the CycleHook is that it's not new. Montreal, for one, has had this exact design attached to parking meters for years, and I'm sure it's not the only city to have the same thought. On the other hand, Montreal's parking spots aren't pretty pink. [Wired]

PC Built Inside a Classy-as-Hell Leather and Wood Chest

We love PC case hacks. Anything you can shove a PC into, please do it, and send us pictures. There are several inviting spaces that haven't yet been used—and this here is one of them. Rob Higardea crammed a PC into this beautiful, vintage wood and leather chest. Yeah, it's got wires hanging out the back, but from the front? Pure class. I'd love one of my own, except that much class would probably stick out in my apartment more than a slab of anonymous grey plastic. [UnPluggd]

The ISS was flying 220 miles over the island of Matua when the volcano erupted in a pyroclastic flow, a howling mass of ash and gas that moves at 130 miles per hour, reaching temperatures up to 1,112ºF (600ºC). Such a terrible mayhem, yet so beautiful. [NASA]

One of our investors took a trip to Amsterdam, well, just because. And he met these guys, Storz und Bickel, who happened to engineer the world's best "herbal" vaporizer, the Volcano. And while testing it out, he thought that it was the perfect solution to Grant's problem of finding a way to deliver the aroma of coffee or lavender to the guest, flavoring the dish through olfactory alone.

He was right—it is perfect for creating the aromas of herbs without also creating the burnt, acrid smell that would occur if you simply lit them on fire. It also made capturing the scents incredibly easy. Alinea has four or five Volcanos now, and uses them almost every day.

That is actually how Alinea helped Storz und Bickel prove a legitimate use for the vaporizer, for importation into the US. See, we really do use it for the herbs that are listed on their website. What do you use it for? You're welcome.

Pillow full of lavender vapor, providing aroma for a plate of elaborately prepared English peas:

Nick Kokonas co-founded Alinea with Grant Achatz in 2005, and works with the chef on Alinea-related projects, recruiting innovators to challenge and improve every aspect of the cooking and eating experience. A finance guy and web-oriented angel investor by trade, Kokonas got his start back in his teen years writing business software on an Apple II. You can grab the gorgeous Alinea cookbook here, or just visit Alinea's home page.

Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.

So what makes the Volcano so great that people spend close to $700 on one? Well, first of all, it looks pretty awesome. If you didn't know what it was, you'd think it was some sort of German-designed kitchen equipment, which isn't too far off.

Each Volcano is built by hand by a small German company using top-notch parts. It's got a classic design to it that will make you want to leave it out rather than hide it in a desk drawer. But that's not why you buy it. You buy it because it gets you high really well.

You simply pack some vaporizables into the heating chamber and pop that into your Volcano, which has a handy digital readout to let you decide exactly how hot you want it running (it still stays cool to the touch on the exterior). You then attach a vapor balloon to the top of the heating chamber. Over the course of about 30 seconds, it fills up with vapor (not smoke, mind you). You then snap on a mouthpiece and pass the balloon around. It all sounds more complicated than it is.

So why is that so great? Well, it's all about the vapor. The Volcano heats your vaporizables up, but not hot enough for combustion. That means all the nasty tar and toxins in your herbs don't get released, just the active ingredients and flavors you're looking for. What results is a healthier and cleaner-feeling experience. It also gets you high as shit.

So is it worth the cash? Well, not really. But if you're a serious smoker and you have cash to burn, you will almost definitely absolutely love this thing and want to use it every day, not just because of the great experience but because of how good it looks. But if spending $700 on something to smoke with seems like a ludicrous and insane thing to do on your budget, it most definitely is. But hey, not everyone can afford a Porsche, either.

[Digital Volcano Vaporizer]

Here were our impressions.

Vaporizers are billed as tobacco cessation devices, as well as aromatherapy products for burning various herbal remedies, as well as the type of herb you are thinking of. They work essentially like a hair dryer element, heating herbs and tobacco to a temperature just before the point of combustion thus extracting the active elements but not actually burning the leaves. The absence of burning makes for little to no carcinogens in the inhaled vapor. In fact, the Volcano claims to be over 95% carcinogen free making it the preferred form of marijuana consumption in various Pharmaceutical Science and Medical Marijuana usage studies.

But enough of the boring stuff—how do you use it?

The Volcano is a relatively simple device to use and is expertly crafted with fine German engineering to make it pretty much idiot proof to operate. The temperature dial can be set to whatever level you like, although the experts we spoke to said they always turn it to the highest setting to maximum extraction. The red button on the bottom turns the machine on and off while the green button is pushed when you are ready to force hot air through the herbs of your choice. The center control light will turn on when the heating element is off and shut off to signal that the desired temperature has been reached.

The filling chamber has a screen on the bottom to hold the herbs into place. Once you have put the desired amount in, the screen set is placed on top and forms a seal.

Then the closed filing chamber is placed on top of the Volcano. The grooved top fits snuggled into the bottom of the chamber, making it pretty much impossible to place it incorrectly.

The valve comes attached to the large plastic bag which will fill up and hold the vapors. Our experts say that you can leave the vapors in the bag for an hour or two before inhaling them. The unit also comes with more bags that can be easily changed every few months. The bags that come with the unit will last for 2-3 years with heavy usage and more bags can be bought on the company's website.

The valve snaps into place on top of the filing chamber.

Then you press the green button which forces the hot air through the herb and send the vapors up into the bag, which inflates in a matter similar to a Jiffy Pop bag.

Once the bag is full you use the clips on the side of the valve to disconnect it from the filling chamber. Those same clips snap the bag into the mouth piece which forms a seal and keeps the vapor inside the bag. You just have to press your lips against the mouthpiece and the valve is opened allowing you to inhale all that vapor-y goodness.

Another friend of a friend moved with his Volcano and after a few years of solid use decided to open it up and clean it out. He told us that most of the crap in there was removed with compressed air, but he needed to hit a few spots with rubbing alcohol to do the trick. Here are the Volcano's finely engineered innards.

The Storz and Bickel Volcano retails for around $550 US but better deals can be found eBay and other discount sites. Our anonymous friend says he obtained his on eBay for around $400 but only after a huge delay, presumable because the sellers were probably too inebriated to put on some clothing and get to the post office.

Worth the price? Hard to say, but damn was it fun to play with...I mean my friend said it was fun to play with. It certainly could not have been any easier to operate and would definitely pay for itself in just a short amount of time for the serious smoker. Another bonus that you can get more extraction from using less actual herbs, so this up front investment could save you money for years to come. One more thing—could you pass the Cheetos?–D. B.

Volcano Vaporizer [Storz and Bickel]