As any good creepy shop teacher can demonstrate, if you spend enough time around table saws the chances of you losing a finger or three gets pretty high. Fortunately, technology is here to protect you from your misplaced handyman aspirations with the SawStop, a table saw that stops itself immediately if it hits skin. Leaving only a minor nick that you'll be kissing again and again with tearful praise, the SawStop features an elaborate system that detects the inherent electrical charge in the human body and stops the blade within 1/200th of a second by jamming a block of aluminum into it. Like an airbag, this isn't something you want to test, as once it hits the brakes you'll need to replace the entire braking system, which would be a pain to be sure, but much less annoying than trying to open a jar with two fingers. Check out video footage on their website including one of a brave hot dog flying at the blade at a foot per second to prove the thing works. You'll have to get in touch with a dealer for pricing. — Adam Frucci

SawStop, via Boing Boing