Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

Athletes willing to push it to the Earth's extremes will often find themselves well beyond the boundaries of cellular communications. In many environments--heavy canopies, canyons and caves, for instance--satellite communications are equally out of the question.

Thankfully, the world has 16-year-old Alexander Kendrick. The teenager recently designed an antenna that is capable of sending low-frequency communications from deep inside the Earth. It was tested in a cave at a depth of 946 feet and successfully sent a text message to the surface. It is able to penetrate rock using low frequencies. 

While the antenna pictured above is rather large, it's collapsible. There's also plans to make the design smaller and more durable, so perhaps we'll see a marketable communication/rescue device designed specifically for caving and similar adventures. A pretty cool advance, especially for a 16 year old.

NPR via Engadget

• radio
• safety
• rescue
• inventions
• Caving